Egypt swears in 9 new cabinet ministers in limited shuffle

Cairo: Egypt has sworn in nine new ministers to the cabinet of Prime Minister Sharif Esmail.

The new ministers, sworn in Thursday by President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi, will oversee agriculture, parliamentary affairs, investment and international cooperation, trade, local development, planning, education, higher education and transport.

The shuffle included the merging of several portfolios and comes as Egypt experiences an economic crisis brought about by years of turmoil following a 2011 popular uprising.

A package of economic reforms introduced last year to secure a $12 billion IMF loan has sparked a steep rise in the price of basic commodities as well as services, with the Egyptian pound losing half of its value against the US dollar.

The annual inflation rate rose to nearly 30 percent in January.