Egypt’s Sisi Names New Defence Minister in Limited Reshuffle. Cairo, Egypt — Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi conducted a limited cabinet reshuffle, with a significant change in the Defence Ministry.
On Wednesday, Sisi swore in General Ashraf Salem Zaher as the new Defence Minister, a former head of the Egyptian Military Academy, succeeding General Abdelmeguid Saqr.
The new Defence Minister will head a merged ministry for Defence and Military Production, previously a separate entity overseeing Egypt’s substantial military economy.
The cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly’s eighth during his eight-year tenure, was approved by parliament the previous day.
The shake — up focused primarily on economic and service portfolios as Egypt seeks to navigate a period of crisis.
Sisi has tasked the cabinet’s economic ministries with reducing public debt, with his office stating that “the International Monetary Fund program nearing its end this year.”Egypt’s public debt has soared over the past decade, reaching $161 billion last fiscal year, according to central bank figures.
A part of an $8 billion loan from the IMF, a delayed state privatisation plan aims to diminish the military’s influence on the economy.
The reshuffle also saw the scrapping of the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, previously led by Rania al — Mashat, an economist who has been a constant figure in Sisi’s administration since 2018. Ahmed Rostom, a former World Bank specialist, has been appointed as the new Minister of Planning. Mahmoud Helmy al-Sherif has been named to the Justice Ministry.
Diaa Rashwan, head of the State Information Service, has been appointed as State Minister for Information, a role not held for the past five years. Gohar Nabil, a former handball champion and three-time Olympian, has been named Egypt’s new Minister for Youth and Sport.
The Arab world’s most populous nation has been addressing the impact of successive economic shocks, including five currency devaluations in a decade.
Further details regarding the reshuffle and its implications are expected to emerge in the coming days.
