Ishaq Dar was assigned the portfolio of finance and revenue on Wednesday, shortly after he took oath as federal minister.
Dar was administered the oath of office by President Dr. Arif Alvi during a ceremony at the Aiwan-i-Sadr, which was also attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
A statement released shortly thereafter by the Cabinet Division read, “The president, on the advice of the prime minister, has appointed Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar as a federal minister effective immediately.”
During a meeting on Sunday, PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif and PM Shehbaz nominated Dar for the position of finance minister. This week, he came in the country alongside Prime Minister Shehbaz to assume the finance job, which he had already held three times.
On Tuesday, the PML-N leader, who had been living in self-imposed exile for five years, was sworn in as a senator.
Wednesday evening, Dar and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah addressed the media outside the Ministry of Finance to discuss the state of the economy and the road forward.
“You are all aware of the state of the economy when the PML-N left office. Two percent food inflation, the reserves were at a record high, the currency remained stable at 104.50, and Pakistan’s growth was at 6.3%.”
“As a nation, we face a number of obstacles, but we have overcome similar obstacles in the past.”
The minister proceeded by stating that the nation faced “significant obstacles,” but that the administration would do its utmost to overcome them.
Dar called his prior policy of pumping funds into the market to maintain a low-interest rate a “massive lie” in response to questions from reporters. We have no dollars to inject, he claimed, adding that the PML-N government had amassed Rs23 billion in foreign reserves.
Furthermore, the minister stated that Pakistan’s inflationary troubles were primarily attributable to the country’s expanding imports. He stated, “We believe in a market-based economy, but no one will be allowed to play games with Pakistan’s currency.”
