Egypt: Mohammed Morsi to select government of technocrats

“Most of the cabinet will be technocrats,” he added.

The official Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Tuesday that Mr Morsi was
considering Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei or former finance minister
Hazem Beblawi for the post of prime minister.

Mr Beblawi told the AFP news agency that he was abroad and had not yet been
contacted by the presidency.

Mr Morsi was also “deep in study to fine-tune his programme’s priorities,”
the president-elect’s aide added.

Mr Morsi has pledged to restore security and improve the economy, in tatters
since the anti-Mubarak uprising, to tackle fuel shortages and organise the
cities’ traffic and garbage problems.

On Monday, Mr Morsi met the head of the government-appointed cabinet, which
submitted its resignation but will continue in a caretaker capacity until a
new cabinet is sworn in.

He also met Egypt’s military ruler, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, in what
official media described as an amiable meeting between the country’s two
most powerful men following months of acrimony between the generals and
Islamists.

A picture on the front page of the state’s flagship Al-Ahram daily showed the
bearded Mr Morsi sitting alongside Field Marshal Tantawi in the manner of a
visiting head of state, a reminder of where power lies in a country ruled
for decades by military men.

The military, in direct charge of Egypt since Mubarak’s overthrow in a popular
uprising, has said Morsi will assume full presidential powers when he takes
office on June 30.

But in two decrees this month, the military took over parliament’s power after
disbanding it following a court order and formed a national security council
dominated by generals which will have a large say in policy-making.

In Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Muslim Brotherhood cadres continued a days-long sit
in to pressure the military to hand full powers to Morsi and restore the
parliament.

Morsi himself has said that although he accepted the court order to disband
the Islamist-dominated parliament, he disagreed with it.

“He wishes he can take his oath in front of parliament,” his aide
said, as stipulated in the country’s interim constitution. But in its
absence Morsi will have to take the oath before the constitutional court.

Morsi’s main priority will be to try to check the downward spiral of the
country’s battered economy, which relies heavily on tourism.

The Cairo stock exchange closed up 7.5 per cent on Monday at 4,482.48 points,
its largest single-day increase in more than a year, amid optimism that the
official announcement of a president would help stabilise the country.

But ratings agency Standard and Poor’s said it was placing its ‘B’ long-term
foreign- and local-currency sovereign ratings on Egypt on CreditWatch with
negative implications.

“The CreditWatch placement reflects our view of at least a 50 per cent
likelihood of a downgrade over the next three months,” the agency said.

Source: AFP

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