Mostafa Madbouly has been the longest-serving premier since Sisi took office. [Getty]
In a much-anticipated move, the Egyptian cabinet resigned on Monday, two months after Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had been sworn in as the country’s president for a third and, theoretically, a final four-year term as per the country’s constitution amended back in 2019.
Sisi reappointed Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, the longest-serving premier during his reign, and tasked him with forming a new cabinet, according to an official statement released by the presidency.
“I assigned Dr Mustafa Mabdouly today to form a new government with necessary expertise and competencies to manage the coming phase… achieve the desired development of government performance and meet the challenges faced by the state,” Sisi wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
كلفت اليوم الدكتور مصطفى مدبولي بتشكيل حكومة جديدة تضم الخبرات والكفاءات اللازمة لإدارة المرحلة القادمة، وذلك لتحقيق التطوير المرجو في الأداء الحكومي ومواجهة التحديات التي تواجهها الدولة.
— Abdelfattah Elsisi (@AlsisiOfficial) June 3, 2024
During a meeting where the prime minister submitted the cabinet’s official resignation, the Egyptian president asked Madbouly’s future cabinet to focus on economic reform, attract local and foreign investments, boost the private sector, and reduce inflation rates.
The ongoing Israeli war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip bordering Egypt and the threat of displacing Palestinians into North Sinai province have been taking a toll on the Arab World’s most populous country that has been instrumental in mediating peace talks between the warring sides. Sisi further instructed Madbouly to prioritise the health and education sectors, enhance political participation, maintain national security and stability and confront terrorism amid regional and global challenges ahead of Egypt.
The cabinet reshuffle came a few days after the government raised the price of subsidised bread by 400 per cent as of Saturday, 1 June, a move that sparked the outrage of poor and limited-income households in a country whose almost one-third of its nearly 105 population is under the poverty line.
“The resignation of the government could in one way or another diffuse the rising public anger over inflation and bread price increase, even though it had been scheduled earlier following Sisi’s inauguration… Some could still feel disappointed that Madouly would remain in office,” Said Sadek, professor of political sociology at the Alexandria-based Egypt-Japan University, told The New Arab.
Egypt has been undergoing the most challenging economic crisis in modern history, with inflation hitting a record of nearly 35 per cent. Food prices have become too expensive for poor and average-income households, especially animal protein, milk, rice and cooking oil.
Madbouly’s cabinet has been reshuffled four times since he first formed it in 2018, the last of them was in 2022.
Whether any of the ministers in Madbouly’s outgoing cabinet will be reappointed remains unclear.
