The last cabinet reshuffle took place in July 2024, amid inflation, a depreciating currency, rising public debt, budget deficits, and growing geopolitical tensions.
The new cabinet will focus on areas including national security and foreign policy, economic development, production, energy and food security, and social and human development, with the new ministers taking oath on Wednesday, 11 February.
For the Ministry of Planning, Ahmed Rostom, a finance expert with the World Bank, will replace Minister Rania Al-Mashat. The planning ministry, which previously included the international cooperation portfolio and focused on implementing strategic economic, social, and institutional targets, has now been separated from that portfolio after the reshuffle.
Rostom has experience advising on financial-sector reforms, macro-finance linkages, long-term finance, financial inclusion, and financial infrastructure.
He spent 15 years at the World Bank, most recently as a senior financial sector specialist in the finance, competitiveness, and investment global practice for the East Africa region. He has also held positions in the Egyptian government, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), and the banking sector.
For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Badr Abdelatty retains his role as foreign minister and Egyptian expatriates' affairs and now also oversees the portfolio of international cooperation.
The Ministry of Industry has also been separated from the Transport portfolio, with Kamel Al-Wazir remaining minister of transport only and no longer serving as deputy prime minister.
Khaled Hashem, president for North Africa at US-based conglomerate Honeywell, will replace Al-Wazir as minister of industry.
Hashem has held executive positions at General Motors and currently serves as a board member and chair of the Power Committee at AmCham Egypt, as well as on the board of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt’s Utilities and Infrastructure Sub-Fund. Honeywell works in industrial automation, energy, and sustainability solutions, including producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from waste oils, supporting Egypt’s SAF production goals.
Moreover, Mohamed Farid Saleh will replace Hassan ElKhatib as minister of investment and external trade.
Saleh was most recently the executive chairman of Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) and has extensive experience in stock exchanges, capital market regulations, investment governance, macro-financial stability, and emerging markets. He is also a board member of the CBE and vice-chairman of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
In his previous roles, Saleh oversaw non-banking financial markets, stock markets, asset management and brokerage firms, mortgage and consumer finance activities, and insurance and reinsurance entities. He has also served as chairman of the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) in 2017 and president of the Arab Federation of Capital Markets.
Raafat Hindi, former deputy minister for infrastructure affairs at the Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology, will succeed Amr Talaat. Hindi has experience in administrative and technical coordination, data centre projects, and cloud computing platforms.
He has overseen coordination between the ministry, other government bodies, and the private sector to support digital transformation and has served as head of the General Secretariat Sector since July 2018.
Hussein Eissa, general coordinator of the presidential Specialized Council for Economic Development, has been appointed deputy prime minister for economic affairs.
Eissa is an advisor on financial and economic affairs to the Federation of Egyptian Industries and a member of the Coordinating Council for Financial and Monetary Policies. He also serves on the boards of several banking and economic institutions.
As a restructuring move approved by the House of Representatives, Egypt is abolishing the Ministry of Public Business Sector from its new cabinet, ten years after its inception. The ministry owns six holding companies that oversee 63 subsidiary firms; it also holds stakes in 106 other companies.
The possibility of merging the firms with other relevant ministries or transferring them to the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade remains under discussion.
Minister of Finance Ahmed Kouchouk, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi, and Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mahmoud Esmat retain their posts.
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