The government has two options in the absence of a finance minister; it can either appointment an elected person as a temporary measure, or the prime minister can hold the portfolio.
Insiders close to the federal cabinet have told newsmen that the PM might chair the meetings of the Economic Coordination Committee, or ratify the decisions made by the ECC during cabinet meetings.
The government must now issue a notification retaining Shaukat Tarin as adviser to PM on finance.
The government had announced that Tarin could be elected as senator but currently there is no vacant seat for him to contest.
Tarin will not be able to chair any cabinet committee meetings such as the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC), Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCOP) and others.
It is unclear how much time Tarin will have to perform as adviser to PM because his powers would be greatly reduced under the new role.