Hammad Azhar replaces Hafeez Shaikh as finance minister

Hammad Azhar replaced Hafeez Shaikh as finance minister on Monday. 

Hammad said in a tweet later in the evening, “I am honoured to be entrusted with the additional charge of Finance by the Prime Minister. Pakistan's economy has made significant gains towards stabilisation since 2018. We shall continue to consolidate these gains and strengthen the growth momentum.

“We navigated econ fallout of covid-19 fairly well. The world is witnessing supply chain disruptions & rise in food prices. We shall endeavour to protect our ppl from these shocks. With hard work & integrity, we will InshAllah build Naya Pakistan under leadership of @ImranKhanPTI”

Earlier, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz told the media that Hamad would be the new finance minister of Pakistan. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had formed a new team to tackle the financial issues facing the country. He said the prime minister was not satisfied with the old team's performance due to the increasing inflation. He said the prime minister had trust in Hammad and he had assigned him an additional task. 

Shibli said there was a possibility of more changes in the federal cabinet. He said the prime minister would undergo the second coronavirus test on Tuesday and expressed the hope that he would attend Thursday's cabinet meeting. 

Also, the media was abuzz with reports on Tuesday that Shibli was going to be made the federal minister for petroleum.