Miftah Ismail appointed finance minister prior to budget presentation
Ismail was serving as PM's adviser on finance with status of federal minister earlier
ISLAMABAD: Miftah Ismail, the prime minister's adviser on finance, was appointed federal minister for finance, revenue and economic affairs on Thursday.
President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath to Ismail on Friday during a ceremony at the Presidency.
Cabinet members, party workers and senior officials were present during the ceremony.
As Ismail is not a Member of Parliament, his appointment has been undertaken as per section nine of Article 91 of the Constitution which pertains to making any non-elected person a member of the cabinet.
The clause states that "A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the National Assembly shall, at the expiration of that period, cease to be a Minister and shall not before the dissolution of that Assembly be again appointed a Minister unless he is elected a member of that Assembly".
Ismail will be presenting the federal government's last budget of its tenure in the National Assembly today.
In December last year, the federal government had appointed Ismail as the adviser to the prime minister on finance, revenue and economic affairs with the status of federal minister.
Prior to that, Ismail was the special assistant to the prime minister on economic affairs.
At the time, Senator Ishaq Dar was holding the reins of the Finance Ministry but had to let go owing to his medical treatment abroad.
He has been in London since October last year while a corruption case is under way against him.
Ismail, a political economist, holds a PhD from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.