President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi named 10 new ministers, including the finance and investment portfolios, in a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday meant to help revive an economy laid low by years of political turmoil and militant violence.
Amr Nassar was appointed as the new trade and industry minister, and Mohammed Maait became the finance minister. At the same time, several cabinet members, such as Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek Mulla, retained their positions.
Other appointments were ministers for antiquities, the public sector, labor, irrigation, civil aviation, transport, and tourism.
Egypt’s economy grew around 4.2 percent in 2014-15 and the government has said it expects growth to remain at a similar level in the current fiscal year.
The government will present its economic program to parliament next week.
Abdel Fattah Sisi has been the Egyptian president since June 2014, following a military coup which ousted the country's first democratically elected president, Mohammad Morsi. In 2018, Sisi was re-elected with 97 percent of votes in a sham election where his opponents were effectively barred from contesting the election. The turnout was very low at 41-percent.
