Pakistan gets new finance minister to fix economy

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Senator Ishaq Dar took oath as Pakistan’s finance minister on Wednesday to fix the country’s struggling economy.

President Arif Alvi administered the oath to the new finance minister at the President’s Office in the capital Islamabad, state-run Pakistan Television reported.

Dar, who returned from London after a five-year self-exile earlier this week, has replaced Miftah Ismail, who had been under severe criticism for his mediocre handling of the economy, especially because of the rising fuel and food prices.

A chartered accountant by profession, Dar was re-elected as a senator in absentia in 2019.

A close friend of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Dar has already served as the country’s top financial official twice and is known for his economic expertise.

Facing a case for allegedly possessing assets beyond known sources of income, he had flown to London in 2017.

He has been appointed as the finance minister at a time when the South Asian country is reeling from devastating rains and floods, which have inundated a third of Pakistan, inflicting a whopping $28 billion losses, mainly in terms of infrastructure and agriculture.

With his mix of conventional and unconventional approaches to handling the economy, Dar was able to maintain the value of the rupee against the dollar during his last stint — from 2013 to 2017.

His strategy was, however, criticized by many, who viewed it as detrimental to the country’s exports.

Although the rupee, already hitting an all-time low against the dollar, has slightly regained its value with a significant stock market spike, economists, nonetheless, reckon that the revival of the country’s tottering economy will be a Herculean task for the new finance minister given the global economic meltdown and staggering financial losses caused by the recent super floods.