Egypt announces cabinet reshuffle

CAIRO. Egypt has announced a cabinet reshuffle that removes two ministers closely involved in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and increases the representation of President Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood in the government.

Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Egyptu2019s government has been criticised for failing to revive an economy in deep crisis due to political turmoil. Net photo.

CAIRO. Egypt has announced a cabinet reshuffle that removes two ministers closely involved in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and increases the representation of President Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood in the government. The opposition had been demanding the installation of a politically neutral cabinet to oversee parliamentary elections later this year.Egypt’s Prime Minister, Hisham Qandil, announced the nine changes to his cabinet on Tuesday.These included the appointment of Amr Darrag, a senior official in the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), as planning minister.Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh, reporting from Cairo, said: "This [appointment] is interesting because it is one of the key ministerial posts in negotiation with the IMF over the long-awaited $4.8bn loan; it could be seen as an attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood to play a larger role in key economic processes.”