Egypt’s parliament approves cabinet reshuffle

Egypt’s parliament approved on Tuesday a cabinet reshuffle including the appointment of new ministers for investment and agriculture, said parliament speaker Ali Abdelaal.

The reshuffle merged the investment ministry with the ministry of international cooperation. The current International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr was nominated to head the combined ministry.

Abdul Moneim Al Banna was appointed as the new agriculture minister and Ali Moselhy, a lawmaker who heads parliament’s Economic Committee, was appointed as the new supply minister.

The reshuffle also included the ministers of parliamentary affairs, local development, higher education, education and transport.

Al Banna was previously head of the Agricultural Research Centre, an institution that works under the agriculture ministry.

Al Banna replaces Essam Fayed, who was appointed in 2015 and oversaw a bitter year-long battle over wheat import requirements that intermittently halted shipments to Egypt, the world’s biggest buyer of the grain, and sent global wheat prices lower.

Moselhy, who had served as Minister of Social Solidarity under now-ousted President Hosni Mubarak, replaces Major General Mohammad Ali Al Shaikh.

The cabinet was last reshuffled in March 2016, when President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi named 10 new ministers, including for the finance and investment portfolios.

Egypt is struggling to revive an economy that has been battered by an acute foreign currency crisis since a popular uprising in 2011 drove away tourists and foreign investors.

The central bank floated the pound in November and the government is pushing ahead with painful economic reforms after securing a $12 billion loan programme with the International Monetary Fund in November. These include fuel price hikes and the introduction of a value-added tax.

Source: Cairo (Reuters)