Ishaq Dar named as Pakistan's deputy prime minister

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.

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 Mr. 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 Shehbaz 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, Shehbaz 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.