Ishaq Dar named as Pakistan's deputy prime minister

Pakistan's foreign minister Ishaq Dar has been appointed deputy prime minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday in a post on X.

"The Prime Minister has been pleased to designate Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, as Deputy Prime Minister with immediate effect," a Pakistan government gazette posted by the foreign ministry read.

Dar will continue in his role as foreign minister, Pakistani media said.

The appointment comes a month after Pakistan's parliament elected Shahbaz Sharif as prime minister after a national election marred by mobile internet shutdown, arrests and violence.

Pakistan struggled for over four months to lock in a stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund last summer when Dar was finance minister, and it took the intervention of his prime minister, Shahbaz Sharif, to secure a last-ditch deal.

Dar has also regularly criticised the IMF on public platforms in the middle of negotiations, and has long favoured market interventions to prop up the Pakistani rupee — something the IMF has warned against.

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