CAIRO: Egypt’s new prime minister, Kamal El-Ganzoury, said on Thursday he had no intention of taking on the finance portfolio in a cabinet he promised to have fully formed by Saturday.
The independent Al-Masry Al-Youm daily, on its Facebook page on Thursday, had cited an unidentified source as saying El-Ganzoury would keep the Finance Ministry for himself.
But the new premier said he was not interested.
"I will appoint a finance minister, because I can’t take on such responsibility at this time," El-Ganzoury told reporters.
Egypt’s economy has been hammered by the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak and the political uncertainty since then. El-Ganzoury was credited with economic liberalization and delivering growth when he was premier under Mubarak in the 1990s.
The current finance minister, Hazem El-Beblawi, told Reuters on Wednesday he had not been approached to stay on. Prior to El-Ganzoury’s appointment, he submitted his resignation in October but it was rejected by the ruling military.
El-Ganzoury said he had met six candidates for various ministerial posts on Thursday and would continue consultations on Friday before completing the cabinet on Saturday.
"The new government will include three youth and two women, and there will be no civilian interior minister. From eight to 10 of the current ministers will stay," he said.
The posts would include a minister for investment and public enterprises, a portfolio that was abolished in the wake of Egypt’s popular uprising early this year. The cabinet would include no deputies to the prime minister.
