Mostafa Madbouly
Mostafa Madbouly has been Prime Minister of Egypt since June 2018, one of the longest tenures in the post since the 1952 revolution, in a system where executive power rests with the president. Born in Cairo in 1966, he trained as an architect and urban planner at Cairo University, took a doctorate in the field, and worked for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme as a regional director for Arab states. He was chairman of the General Organization for Physical Planning and then minister of housing, utilities and urban communities from 2014 — the portfolio at the centre of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's programme of state-directed construction. That programme is the defining feature of the period: the New Administrative Capital east of Cairo, a new city built from nothing at a cost in the tens of billions, alongside road networks, social housing and the expansion of the Suez Canal. His premiership has been dominated by macroeconomic crisis. Egypt borrowed heavily to fund construction, and external debt rose sharply; the war in Ukraine cut wheat imports and tourism, and Red Sea attacks from late 2023 cut Suez Canal revenue by roughly half. The pound was devalued repeatedly, losing most of its value against the dollar between 2022 and 2024, and inflation exceeded thirty per cent. The rescue came in February 2024, when the United Arab Emirates committed 35 billion dollars to develop Ras El Hekma on the Mediterranean coast, followed by an expanded IMF programme. His government has been criticised for the opacity of military-linked companies in the economy and for a debt burden built on projects whose returns are unproven. Egypt has also absorbed large numbers of people displaced from Sudan and from Gaza during his tenure.
- Lived: 1966 CE – ?
- Nationality: Egyptian
- Roles: Prime Minister of Egypt (2018-present)
