Former Pakistan finance minister set to take charge again
Ishaq Dar has served as Pakistan's finance minister four times
Pakistan's former finance minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar is set to again take charge of the role following Miftah Ismail's resignation.
Dar, who has served four times as Pakistan's finance minister, will return back to Pakistan from the UK with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday (26 September), reports The Dawn.
Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) senior leaders met Miftah Ismail on Sunday (25 September), and a statement released after the meeting confirmed that Nawaz Sharif and Pak PM Shehbaz had nominated Dar as the finance minister.
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Shehbaz Sharif, who stopped in London on his way back from the UN General Assembly, met his brother and party supremo Nawaz Sharif in London on Saturday (24 September). The brothers held an hours-long meeting at Shehbaz's flat on Edgware Road, where the political and economic situation was discussed, as well as the key development of Ishaq Dar's return to take charge of the finance ministry.
Sources said that Nawaz Sharif told his party members that PML-N has "lost political capital" and that Dar should work to regain it. The source added that r Ismail was offered to oversee solar energy and privatisation, but he declined.
Miftah Ismail's departure comes after months of speculation that Nawaz Sharif and Dar had been unhappy with some of his key decisions, specifically with regard to the fuel price hike.
"My job was to save Pakistan from default and I did that. With the floods, the situation has become more challenging but I have faith that we will not be abandoned by the international financial community. I hope the gains made and the fiscal space created will be retained in the long run," Ismail said.
