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Egypt president names new PM
 [Bangla Daily Star] President Mohamed Morsi has asked Hisham Kandil, a relatively young water minister little known outside Egypt, to form a new government, disappointing investors who had hoped for a high-profile economy specialist.Kandil was a senior bureaucrat in the ministry until he was appointed minister in July last year after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... He obtained a doctorate in irrigation from the University of North Carolina in the United States in 1993, according to the water ministry's Facebook page. A front man for Morsi, the Moslem Brüderbund politician sworn in as Egypt's first freely elected president on June 30, described Kandil as an "independent patriot" who had not belonged to a party either before or after the popular uprising against Mubarak, according to the state news agency. Yet Kandil's beard has generated speculation that he has Islamist sympathies. He has denied being affiliated to any Islamist group, but told Al Jizz in an interview last year he had grown his beard out of a sense of religious duty. Kandil did not feature among the long list of potential candidates for premier circulated by Egyptian media in the three weeks since Morsi took office. That speculation had focused on a group of economists including past and present central bank officials, reports Rooters. "This is quite a surprise as most of the names put around had been from the financial sector. The market is definitely reacting negatively," said Mohamed Radwan at Pharos Securities. Posted by: Fred 2012-07-25 |
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