EGYPT - Decision Maker Profile - Youssef Boutros Ghali.

The Minister of Economy since July 8, 1997, with the added portfolio of Foreign Trade since Oct. 9, 1999, Dr. Ghali has been involved in Egypt's economic reforms since 1986. He replaced Nawal Tatawi. Aged 47, he is from a prominent Coptic clan. He got a PhD from MIT under Stanley Fischer, the current IMF deputy chief. His uncle, Dr. Boutros Boutros Ghali, is a former US secretary-general and minister of state for foreign affairs. An ancestor, Boutros Pasha Ghali, was foreign minister and justice minister under British rule at the turn of the century, and was assassinated by Islamic militants in 1910. The 1997 job made Ghali the highest ranked Copt in the cabinet.

His uncle was never made a full minister. The second Copt in the cabinet is Mrs Nadia Makram Obeid, who on July 8, 1997 was made minister of state for the environment. She has been retained by Sunni Muslim Premier Atef Obeid since Oct. 9, 1999.

Ghali was a senior economist at the IMF before joining the government. He became advisor to PM Atef Sidqi in the late 1980s. He was made minister of state on April 18, 1993. Six months later he was in charge of int'l co-operation. In Jan. 1996 he was made state minister for economics but lost the international co-operation post to Mrs Tatawi, as Ghali had agreed to IMF steps opposed by Mubarak. Also opposed to Ghali's deal with the IMF was Atef Obeid, then in charge of the public sector and privatisations. Yet Ghali got an investment grade rank for Egypt from Standard & Poor.

Dr. Ghali's approach to reforms has since become acceptable to Mubarak. He thus got Tatawi's role as Egypt's interlocutor with the IMF and other international institutions.

Shortly after his Oct. 9, 1999 promotion, Dr. Ghali appointed his senior economic advisor Mahmoud Mohieddin to represent his ministry on the Central Bank board. That reflected Ghali's increased authority.

Officials then explained that Ghali's expanded role was "to support the Central Bank". Now the minister of economy and foreign trade supervises monetary policy and the currency market. It is also tasked with encouraging investments.