Egypt: Bowties in the Finance Ministry while outside unrest rages

Beautiful morning in Cairo, but a cold night which didn’t dissuade protesters from continuing to occupy Freedom Square. Their anger with Mubarak has not retreated, despite his promise to step down in September. Now ministries and other Mubarak loyalists are drumming civil servants and other employees out onto the streets so that Mubarak can claim he too can put a million on the street. There is the recipe for confrontation.

I have just seen some 50 tanks drawn up around the tomb of the unknown warrior where President Sadat was assassinated. There are huge numbers of personnel carriers there too, apparently preparing for the protesters’ threatened march on Mubarak’s palace. That is planned for Friday.

I have had the surreal experience of entering Egypt’s Finance Ministry. A grand white marble structure ringed with palm trees. Drawn up outside are not only tanks but rows and rows of bulletproof security trucks that are usually used to cart cash around the country. But there is no cash. The banks are closed. Shutting down the internet and mobile phones has not only disrupted the protesters’ communication it has bought banking to a complete standstill. Egypt is now not only in political crisis, but financial crisis too.

I went up to the 16th floor in the Finance Ministry to interview the new Minister of Finance Samir Radwan. We were greeted by men in bowties and dinner jackets. The elegant secretary in the outer office was clad in Gucci black. The minister himself is a delightful intellectual with no previous political experience. He is in fact Egypt’s leading academic on unemployment, poverty and regeneration. He is perhaps Mubarak’s only appointment who actually knows how to handle his portfolio.

It is a candid interview and you can catch it below.