Egypt appoints a new defense minister and swears in its reshuffled Cabinet
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/02/2026 (223 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt appointed a new defense minister on Wednesday and swore him in, along with 13 other new ministers in the latest Cabinet reshuffle as the country struggles with an ailing economy and mounting pressure from regional conflicts.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi oversaw the swearing-in ceremony at the Presidential Palace, where the newly appointed defense minister, Ashraf Salem, took the oath of office, along with the other ministers approved by parliament on Tuesday. The reshuffle has impacted portfolios such as housing, higher education, communications, youth and sports. The last Cabinet reshuffle was in July 2024.
Ahmed Rostom, a senior economist at the World Bank, was named minister of planning while Mohamed Farid Saleh, the chairperson of the Financial Regulatory Authority, now heads the Ministry of Investment.
The information ministry was restored after previously being dissolved in 2021, and Diaa Rashwan, chairman of the government’s agency known as State Information Service, was named state minister of information.
The new appointees were all nominated by el-Sissi, who on Tuesday met with Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly ahead of the parliament’s voting session on the reshuffle.
Egypt has been hit hard by years of austerity measures following an International Monetary Fund program adopted in 2016, the coronavirus pandemic, the fallout from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and, most recently, the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on shipping routes in the Red Sea have also slashed Egypt’s revenue from the Suez Canal, a major source of foreign currency, after the attacks forced traffic away from the canal and around the tip of Africa.
The annual inflation rate was at 10.1% in January, compared to 10.3% the month before, according to a report on Tuesday by the country’s statistics agency.
In 2025, the government raised the minimum monthly wage for both public and private sector workers to 7,000 pounds ($138), up from 6,000 pounds ($118.58).