Egypt reshuffles cabinet, changes finance minister

As part of it s effort to meet the demand of protesters, who camped out in central Cairo few days ago, Egypt has reshuffled its cabinet picking a new finance minister.

Report says the outgoing minister, Samir Radwan, will be replaced by Hazem el-Beblawi, who was picked on Saturday as an economic adviser and one of two deputies to Prime Minister Essam Sharaf.

Placating the protesters

Sharaf promised a reshuffle as one of several concessions offered by him and the army to placate protesters.

But demonstrators have stayed in Cairo's Tahrir Square since July 8 and also protested in other cities, increasingly directing their anger at the army.

An army general, Tarek el-Mahdy, who addressed the crowd in Tahrir on Saturday, was asked to leave the podium by dozens of angry protesters.

Confused policy-making

Radwan, who said he had quit and would be replaced by Beblawi, told reporters that the policy-making situation in the country had become "confused" and he believed it was the best to "leave the way for somebody to handle it in a consistent and coherent manner."

"People don't know what they want. Do they want increased expenditure and no borrowing from abroad? Everybody has suddenly become an expert on financial policy. That is not an atmosphere conducive to efficient work," Radwan said.

Budget deficit

Information gathered revealed that Radwan had negotiated a three billion dollars loan from the International Monetary Fund to help cope with a spiralling budget deficit.

However, Egypt in June said it no longer needed the money after Radman had reached a deal.

Radwan said the budget had been revised to cut the deficit in response to demands for a national dialogue and concerns in the ruling military council about building up debts.

Reactions

Economists have questioned some of the budget assumptions.

An Egyptian investment banker said Radwan lacked authority and the government needed to do more to outline its plans.

"The whole problem is that we're still in search of an economic identity. So it doesn't really matter who's there, to a certain extent, because the headlines are not there," he said.

"It's a very worrying period. I think we'll end up all right, but after how long, and what will the ultimate bill be?" the banker said, asking not to be identified.

"The first thing Beblawi needs to do is to reflect some confidence in his decisions, empowered by the legitimacy of the military council, and he has to think a bit like investors," the head of research at Prime Securities, Mohamed Seddiek said.

Managing the transition period

Beblawi was reported to have said his priority was to "manage the transition period" and said there should be a cap on higher paid state employees.

"When I was asked to be the deputy prime minister, all that I asked for was to be allowed an executive space that is backed by information ... so that I can do my task based on studies and information," Beblawi said.

Alongside Beblawi, Sharaf appointed Ali al-Silmi of the liberal Wafd party as deputy in charge of political development and democratic transformation.

REUTERS/Shakira/Williams