Islamabad: A spokesperson for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party said on Monday that Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar might be one of the contenders to head the incoming caretaker government. This would help maintain the economic reforms made possible by a $3 billion IMF bailout programme.

On August 12, the current legislature's five-year term will come to an end, making way for the upcoming general elections in October. According to the constitution, the caretaker prime minister will be chosen by the president after consultation with the incumbent National Assembly's leader of the opposition and the prime minister.

"He (Dar) might qualify as a candidate. He could help enforce IMF requirements and maintain fiscal restraint as an economist.

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Dar, who was trained as a chartered accountant, has held various government positions since the 1990s, most notably those of commerce minister, chairman of Pakistan's Board of Investment, and three times as finance minister. He is regarded as the Sharif family's most dependable aide, especially the patriarch Nawaz Sharif, and his eldest son is wed to a Sharif family member.

The South Asian country secured a $3 billion short-term financial package from the IMF earlier this month, giving its economy a much-needed reprieve as it teeters on the verge of default. According to Zubair, the PMLN wanted an economist to serve as caretaker premier to ensure implementation of the package.

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Zubair stated that it would be "practical" for the candidate for caretaker prime minister to have prior experience managing economic policy because "the agreement with the IMF is an economic prescription that requires continuity of the economic policies and necessary actions during the interim setup to keep the loan programme on track."

The IMF will release one of the three tranches of the $3 billion loan after the caretaker government's economic review, so we need to exercise fiscal restraint during the interim setup, he continued.

According to Zubair, his party would speak with the other members of the coalition to reach an agreement on the interim prime minister's name.

"The interim prime minister should be a consensus candidate for free and fair elections," he continued.

The idea of selecting a caretaker with expertise in economics was well received by economists, but they recommended that the candidate be "independent and neutral."

According to Topline Securities' Chief Economist Syed Atif Zafar, "If an economist is appointed as the interim prime minister, he can ensure to implement IMF conditions like currency exchange rate, monetary policy tightening, and energy prices."

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According to Zafar, if a "independent and neutral" economist were appointed with the support of all stakeholders, he or she would have the backing to carry out the necessary economic decisions and reforms during their three-month tenure.

Dar being in charge of the caretaker government, according to Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, arguably the most well-liked party in Pakistan, would prevent it from being impartial.

"If Ishaq Dar is to be made a caretaker prime minister, then there will be no elections, only a selection," PTI spokesman Farrukh Habib told the media