Pak cabinet tasked with ending crisis

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the key members of his cabinet, tasking them with leading the country out of a crippling economic crisis fuelled by debt, spiralling inflation and a feeble rupee. 

Pakistan's 19 new ministers took their oath of office Monday, after an election marred by allegations of vote rigging.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb -- chief of a leading Pakistan bank, with a background in international finance -- was one of the only technocrats to be appointed among a group of Sharif loyalists.

Second-time-PM Sharif heads a fragile alliance backed by his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party's long-term rivals, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Pakistan's economy is dependent on International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans to service its repayments -- a programme that comes with a number of conditions.

Sharif told his cabinet on Monday they would need to perform "deep surgery" on the nation's finances, adding that: "The foremost challenge our nation confronts is inflation."

PPP refused to assume any ministerial positions, instead taking only the president's role for party leader Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

PM Sharif is expected to make further appointments in the coming months.

In the coming weeks, Pakistan must negotiate the latest tranche of a $3 billion loan with the IMF.