Web Desk
Muhammad Ishaq Dar Wednesday took oath as federal finance minister a day after swearing in as senator.
President Arif Alvi administered the oath to Ishaq Dar at a ceremony held at the President House, also attended by Prime Minster Shahbaz Sharif, senior PML-N leaders and cabinet members.
The PML-N leader returned to the country on Monday after a five-year exile in London.
Dar has been tasked by the party leadership to steer the country out of the economic crisis.
This is the fourth time Dar, aged 72, has been given the portfolio. It also comes at a time when Pakistan is recovering from devastating floods that killed more than 1,600 people and destroyed homes, crops, roads and rail networks, English newspaper, Daily Dawn reported.
“We will control inflation. We will bring interest rates down,” Dar told media men after taking oath as the minister.
Dar, a chartered accountant by profession, was given the position after the resignation of his predecessor Miftah Ismail, who was Pakistan’s fifth finance minister in about four years.
During his six-month stint as finance minister, Ismail managed to secure a $1.17bn bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as Pakistan battles an economic crisis.
Dar returned to Pakistan on Monday after five years of self-imposed exile in London following allegations of corruption against him.
“I will try my best to save Pakistan from the economic vortex it is caught in … I am hopeful we will head towards a positive direction,” he told reporters on Monday night.
In 2017, Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a case against Dar for having assets beyond his known sources of income. Dar skipped the NAB court’s proceedings and travelled to London later that year on account of illness, where he was staying for the last five years.
Dar was subsequently declared an absconder and his assets seized after multiple orders to appear before the court were not complied with.
However, last week, the NAB court suspended the arrest warrant against him till October 7 after Dar’s lawyer said his client will attend the hearings.
