Who will be new finance minister to be the first challenge in Pakistan

Pakistan's political impasse may end with the formation of a coalition government but its economic worries may linger on primarily due to the dilemma of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party over the appointment of the finance minister of the cash-strapped country.

In January, the cash-strapped country received over $700 million second tranche from the Washington-based global lender under the existing $3 billion SBA agreed towards June last year when Pakistan was slowly drifting towards default.

Earlier this week, US-based Fitch Ratings one of three leading global rating agencies said in its report that a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal to succeed the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), expiring in March this year, was key to Pakistan's credit profile.

Pakistan has not completed the last $6.5 billion IMF bailout package, and therefore, the first task of the new finance minister will be to sit with the Washington-based global lender to get the last loan tranche of $1.2 billion.

He or she would also need to kick-start negotiations for a new long-term deal.

Almost two weeks after the February 8 general elections that delivered a fractured mandate, there was a breakthrough late on Tuesday night that could end the political impasse in the country. The PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have agreed on a power-sharing deal to form a new coalition government with the Nawaz Sharif-led party being the dominant partner.

It is here at one of the most critical economic junctures that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) faces a hard decision between appointing a highly experienced, former banker Ishaq Dar as the finance minister and bringing in a new face out of political compulsions, according to The Express Tribune newspaper.