Egypt's economy crippled by host of issues: Commentator

Press TV has interviewed Sherif el-Touni, journalist and political commentator from Egypt, to ask for his take on Egypt’s new cabinet.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Give us your perspective on the new make-up of Egypt’s cabinet.

Touni: This comes at a very critical time where Egypt is expecting the long delayed parliamentary elections, which is supposed to be taking place in a month from now, and people are looking for the power of the parliament to have a cabinet in place.

Having this cabinet now is raising a lot of questions as the timing is very crucial. I think the government would have continued until the parliament is set and have the power to judge the appointment of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of a prime minister, and then take the decision based on 30 days and based on Article 146 in the Egyptian Constitution 2014 if this is the right candidate with the right program for Egypt given the challenges that is there.

If we are speaking about the current cabinet, as you mentioned, there has been axed couple of ministers, which is an only logical thing that could have been done earlier. If we are thinking about the core ministries, like you mentioned, finance; we are speaking about the interior, defense and foreign of affairs; these are the core ministries. No change in those ministries means that the core has not changed.

And given the fact that they have claimed, and the allegations towards agriculture minister touching upon the former prime minister, Ibrahim Mahlab, does not mean that the other ministers are also clear of allegations. Because it is quite felt in Egypt that the corruption level is on the rise and definitely looking at the upcoming cabinet and its responsibilities towards fighting that is going to be the top focus for everyone now.

Press TV: Can you also touch upon the issue of the distrust that exists between the Egyptian public and the military-backed government?

Touni: The timing is very weird. Having a cabinet in place just a couple of weeks and days before the long delayed parliament ever since Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has been in power; this is raising a lot of questions. Why the existing cabinet continues this period until the parliament overlooks this and uses the powers that were for the very first time laid down in the Egyptian Constitution?

There is a kind of mistrust because if we are looking about the economic challenges for the Egyptians, it is rising. The economy is crippled and challenged with a lot of issues. We can name a lot of them, but for your time I think this is the major point for every Egyptian how to get out of this situation from an economical perspective.

If this cabinet is going to be the right cabinet to do so or not some of the ministries, I have to be open about that, some of the ministers, for example the minister of tourism is back from the previous cabinet - Hisham Zazou. He is a good caliber, he has been working with a lot of focus on tourism, but the tourism is challenged. We have a lot of situations even the recent incident.

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