Newly-appointed Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi is working on a "general vision"by which new cabinet ministers are to be chosen, El-Beblawi told Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website on Thursday.

The Egyptian premier told Al-Ahram that he planned to consult with ministerial candidates before deciding on their relative suitability for the post.

El-Beblawi said he was thinking about merging certain government ministries, while adding that it was "still too early to know"whether the information ministry would be abolished.

In the wake of Egypt's January 2011 revolution, there were repeated calls for the abolition of the information ministry so as to guarantee media independence.

According to Al-Ahram, Amr El-Shobaky – a political analyst at the Cairo-based Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies – has been floated as possible information minister if the ministry remains intact.

El-Shobaki had served as an independent MP in the lower house of Egypt's now-dissolved parliament, elected in late 2011/early 2012.  

El-Beblawi, an economist and former finance minister, was made head of Egypt's transitional government on Tuesday after last week's ouster of president Mohamed Morsi.