Dr. Mohamed Gouda, official spokesman and member of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)'s Economic Affairs Committee, stated that if Farouk El-Okdah leaves his position as Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Egypt's monetary policy and the country's negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to receive US$ 4.8 billion loan will not be affected. Gouda declined to comment on what was published that Farouk El-Okdah will resign and that there are three candidates for the post which are: Tarek Amer, chairman of the National Bank of Egypt; Hisham Ramez, vice chairman of the Commercial International Bank; and Mohamed Barakat, chairman of Banque Misr. He said that it is a presidential issue in which FJP cannot interfere. He also declined to say whether the president asked FJP to nominate names for the post. FJP has many reservations on CBE's monetary policy, he noted, claiming that the supervision on banks is not tight enough and that the regulator allows favoritism in appointment of banks' leaders.
