** #2 Madbouly could slash cabinet posts, looks to cull civil service: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly is looking to cut the number of posts in his cabinet and is pushing the downsizing of the civil service, the PM said at a gathering of US businessmen organized by our friends at AmCham on Thursday, according to Reuters. The vision is meant to “cut red tape and lure foreign investment,” as well as address Egypt’s chronic bureaucracy, which Madbouly pointed to as one of the main challenges the country is facing.

Don’t expect mass firings: The downsizing will happen through attrition, the PM said. 38% of government employees will retire within 10 years and will likely not be replaced as the government begins offering many of its services online. The restructuring also ties into plans to turn the new administrative capital into the center of government. Madbouly did not get into specifics during the talk.

With at least 5 mn employees, the government is the largest employer in Africa. The Madbouly cabinet has been looking at proposals to cut head count while improving government services, and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi had ordered the Finance Ministry to begin reassessing public sector wages as part of the government’s administrative reform drive. Cutting government spending is a crucial policy platform for the Finance Ministry, Minister Mohamed Maait had previously said. Cabinet had studied a proposal to shorten state bureaucrats’ work week to four days to cut costs and reduce traffic congestion around government agencies, but ultimately nixed the idea after push-back from most ministries.