CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s new prime minister said on Sunday he was finalising an economic reform plan that would rein in hefty subsidies and said the economy is expected to grow in the current financial year by 3 to 4 percent or more if investment goals are achieved.

Hisham Kandil told Reuters in a rare interview that the government aims to cut the budget deficit, now running at about 8 percent of gross domestic product, by 1 percentage point in two years although he said that target was “dynamic”.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s new prime minister said on Sunday he was finalizing an economic reform plan that would rein in hefty subsidies and said the economy is expected to grow in the current financial year by 3 to 4 percent or more if investment goals are achieved.

Hisham Kandil told Reuters in a rare interview that the government aims to cut the budget deficit, now running at about 8 percent of gross domestic product, by 1 percentage point in two years although he said that target was “dynamic”.

CAIRO, Aug 14 (Reuters) – A blunder by the Egyptian army
that left 16 border guards dead at the hands of Islamist
militants gave President Mohamed Mursi an unexpectedly early
chance to claw back powers from a military whose political
influence he had always wanted to restrict.

A week after the raid on Egypt’s Sinai border that outraged
ordinary Egyptians and some soldiers, angry at what they saw as
a failure in military leadership, Mursi on Sunday dismissed the
country’s two top generals and tore up an army decree that had
curbed his powers.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi has driven back the biggest challenge to civilian rule by dismissing top generals and tearing up their legal attempt to curb his power in a bold bid to end 60 years of military leadership.

Taking the country by surprise, Mursi pushed Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi into retirement. The 76-year-old figurehead of the old order, he took charge of the biggest Arab nation when Hosni Mubarak fell last year and remained head of its powerful, ad hoc military council after the Islamist was elected in June.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s new Islamist president and his old military foes have come out swinging in a struggle for political power, but their countrymen need them to find a way to work together to avert economic chaos.

In the two weeks since his inauguration, President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood has openly defied the entrenched military by summoning the Islamist-led parliament the generals dismissed on the eve of his election.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s new Islamist president and his old military foes have come out swinging in a struggle for political power, but their countrymen need them to find a way to work together to avert economic chaos.

In the two weeks since his inauguration, President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood has openly defied the entrenched military by summoning the Islamist-led parliament the generals dismissed on the eve of his election.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Islamist president said on Wednesday he wanted talks with the judiciary and political powers to defuse a crisis over him trying reinstate parliament in defiance of generals who dissolved it last month based on a court ruling.

Mohamed Mursi’s statement appeared to be a call for a truce to prevent the crisis, less than two weeks into his presidency, from boiling over into open confrontation with the military council or the judges in his battle to wrest power.

CAIRO (Reuters) – A decision by Egypt’s supreme court to overrule the president when he recalled parliament has raised the stakes in the power struggle between the long-repressed Muslim Brotherhood and the military which ruled for decades.

Hours after the Islamist-led parliament met on Tuesday in open defiance of the generals who had ordered it dissolved last month, the court halted President Mohamed Mursi’s decree to reconvene the assembly.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Islamist-led parliament reconvened on Tuesday in an open challenge to the generals who dissolved it last month.

The supreme court swiftly ruled the newly elected, Islamist president had acted illegally in summoning the assembly, heightening a confrontation between the newly elected head of state and an establishment that once served Hosni Mubarak.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Islamist-led parliament reconvened on Tuesday after being summoned by new President Mohamed Mursi in an open challenge to the generals who dissolved it last month.

The assembly, dominated by Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood and allies, was dismissed by the army in line with a court ruling issued days before Mursi’s election. Mursi took office on June 30 ago, the first civilian leader after six decades of military men in power, and recalled the parliament in a decree on Sunday.