Egypt appoints a new defense minister and swears in its reshuffled Cabinet

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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).