Hisham Ramez, vice chairman of Commercial International Bank (CIB), has turned down an offer to be Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), following Farouk El-Okdah, who will leave his post after the approval of the new constitution which states that a senior government official cannot take more than two terms in office and El-Okdah occupied this post for three consecutive term, sources said. Morsi met with Ramez on December 22nd asking him to be CBE's Governor, but Ramez apologized because of many reasons such as the current political unrest which affect the country's economy in many aspects such as the sharp drop in foreign cash reserves and the pound's fall against U.S. dollar. Ramez also rejected such position because of financial reasons regarding from bringing into effect the maximum and minimum wage rules. The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, nominated three candidates for CBE's Governor position, namely the vice chairman of CIB Hisham Ramez, the chairman of Banque Du Caire Mounir EL-Zahed and the chief executive officer of Ahli United Bank Adel EL-Laban, sources affirmed. The presidency will select either EL-Zahed or EL-Laban to succeed El-Okdah. El-Zahed and El-Laban have great experiences that will enable them to Govern CBE.
