CBE governor Tarek Amer (AFP)
The Egyptian parliament's secretary-general Mahmoud Fawzi said in a press release on Monday evening that a plenary meeting would be held on Thursday – 28 November – to discuss and vote on President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's decision on the post of governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
President El-Sisi decided on Monday to extend the term of CBE governor Tarek Amer for a second four-year term – or until 2023.
"This meeting comes in line with Article 277 of the House's internal bylaws, which state that an extraordinary session could be held upon the request of the president of the republic or the prime minister," said Fawzi.
He indicated that the meeting also comes in line with articles 215 and 216 of the constitution, which allow the president to name the heads of independent and watchdog authorities, including the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), for a four-year renewable term upon the approval of the majority of MPs.
According to Fawzi, parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal was officially informed of the president's nomination of the CBE governor on Monday evening.
"As a result, the speaker decided to take the necessary measures in this respect in terms of calling MPs to meet in an extraordinary session on Thursday afternoon to discuss this urgent matter," said Fawzi.
According to parliament's schedule of debate on Thursday, the discussion and the vote will be confined to the issue of President El-Sisi's decision on Monday to keep Tarek Amer in office as CBE's governor for another, and final, four years.
There has recently been wide speculation that parliament would hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss an imminent cabinet reshuffle.
A number of MPs and political analysts have said that they know from informed sources that a cabinet reshuffle entailing between 10 and 12 cabinet ministers would soon be announced and discussed by parliament.
Parliament speaker Abdel-Aal is currently in Cyprus to participate in a conference on cooperation between Middle Eastern and European countries. Abdel-Aal, who will be back in Cairo on Tuesday night, will leave again on Sunday for Abu Dhabi to join the United Arab Emirates' celebration of its National Day.
CBE governor Amer was declared last June the 2019 winner of the Central Bank Governor of the Year in Africa award for his work "in restoring faith in Egypt’s markets and contributing to making it one of the fastest growing economies in the world and one of the best performing emerging markets."
Under Amer's term, the Egyptian pound was able to restore 10 percent of its value against the dollar in one year, or from EGP 18 per dollar in 2018 to EGP 16 in 2019.
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