CAIRO – Egypt’s finance and foreign affairs ministers said on Wednesday they were keeping their posts in a new government being formed by Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, who was appointed by President Mohamed Mursi last week.
Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Saeed confirmed they would stay on after emerging from a meeting with Kandil, who is due to formally unveil his cabinet on Thursday.
Osama Saleh, the head of the General Authority for Investment, said he had been appointed investment minister. Osama Kamal, head of the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Co, said he had been appointed oil minister.
A little-known technocrat, Kandil was irrigation minister in the outgoing cabinet led by Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri – who was appointed by the military council and a premier under ousted leader Hosni Mubarak. Kandil has said he would put qualifications before political allegiances when choosing his cabinet members.
The government formation ends a month long wait for the first administration of the Mursi era. The Muslim Brotherhood politician, who was sworn in on June 30, has been criticised for the amount of time it took him to name his prime minister.
Faced by an economy hit by 18 months of political instability, the new government will need to move fast to address acute economic problems including a looming balance of payments crisis and unaffordable state borrowing costs.
