- Ishaq Dar will replace Miftah Ismail as finance minister.
- “This will be my aim. To bring Pakistan’s [economy] back on track,” says Dar.
- PML-N senior leader Dar scheduled to return tonight.
LONDON: PML-N senior leader Ishaq Dar — who will become the next finance minister in the coming days — has his eyes set on putting Pakistan’s weakening economy back on track.
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has given his verbal resignation to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in London and Dar — his replacement — is set to return to Pakistan along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tonight.
Dar will take oath as a senator since despite being elected, he has been in self-exile in London for the last five years. His appointment, according to a source, was made after Nawaz expressed disappointment in Miftah’s economic policies.
Accepting that he faces an uphill task in Pakistan, Dar said that with God’s blessings he hopes to bring the economy back to the stage it was at when the PML-N was last in power.
“The whirlpool Pakistan went through in the last four years is hidden from no one. Fortunately, I am returning to the same office that I left five years back,” Dar told reporters.
The PML-N leader said that Pakistan’s economy, under Nawaz, was on its way to becoming one of the strongest global economies, with low-interest rates, decade-high growth, a stable rupee, and a huge forex reserve.
“This will be my aim. To bring Pakistan’s [economy] back on track. The economy is constantly faltering,” the PML-N leader added.
The senator-elect added that a “fake” case was concocted against him regarding the filing of taxes. “I have never failed to file taxes in my life,” the PML-N leader said.
Dar will face challenging times upon his arrival as the Pakistani rupee has recently escaped an all-time low against the dollar, the stock market has been lacklustre, and forex reserves are continuously depleting — standing at $8,346.4 million as of September 16.
His return comes after an accountability court last week suspended his outstanding arrest warrant and gave Dar a fortnight to appear before the court.
Accountability Court Judge Mohammad Bashir suspended the arrest warrant — issued on December 11, 2017 — in the assets beyond means case.
