Egypt’s military chief, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, has kept his job as defence minister in the country’s new Islamist led government.

His appointment cements the military’s continuing influence in Egypt where it retains control over legislation and the writing of a new constitution despite the transition to civilian rule.

Tantawi held the same post for two decades under President Hosni Mubarak and led the controversial military council which took charge of Egypt after the February 2011 revolution.

President Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader, has struggled to wrest power from the military since he was elected in June.

He is the first freely elected President in the nation’s history and also the first Islamist, raising fears among moderate, secular Egyptians of a sharp shift towards religious rule.

He had pledged to deliver an “inclusive government”, but there are just two women among the 35 ministers, one of them a Christian.

The rest of the new cabinet, sworn in by President Morsi in a ceremony in Cairo, is made up largely of technocrats, with his own Muslim Brotherhood party taking a small number of key posts.

The government was selected by Prime Minister Hisham Qandil – himself not a member of the Islamist movement – who said that “competence” was the most important factor in choosing his 35 ministers.

Mr Qandil, a little known former water minister, is tasked with implementing the Muslim Brotherhood’s “Renaissance Project” to improve Egypt’s economy.

He told Reuters that he would hold a meeting on Saturday to discuss the next steps in approaching the International Monetary Fund for a loan.

Egypt is facing a budget and balance of payments crisis after the post revolution turmoil and political uncertainty spooked foreign investors. The key tourism sector has been among the hardest hit by the unrest.

The new government is under pressure to deliver swift improvements to the lives of millions of poor Egyptians who felt sidelined by the Mubarak regime, while the middle classes are impatient for an end to the wave of lawlessness that has swept the country since the revolution.

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