Background
Mohammed Abdullah Marziban was born in January 1918, at Fayoum, 60 miles south of Cairo
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Mohammed Abdullah Marziban
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Mohammed Abdullah Marziban was a Former Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the Economy and Foreign Trade. Economist and banker, trained in Cairo and Harvard. Close associate of Aziz Sidki who made him Deputy Prime Minister in January 1972. When Sidki fell, out too went Marziban who was unfairly blamed for economic short-comings and the flight of capital.
Education
Educated locally and at Cairo where he graduated from Fuad University with a BSc degree from the faculty of commerce. Continuing his studies in the USA at Harvard University, he obtained a BSc degree in Management in 1947.
Career
On his return to Egypt he started as a lecturer at the faculty of commerce in Cairo University and rose to be a professor. In 1966 he was appointed director of the Bank of Cairo. He entered the government on March 21, 1968, as Minister of Supply and Internal Trade. In September 1971 he was promoted Minister of the Economy and Foreign Trade while continuing to hold his previous portfolio.
His quiet style and technical ability impressed Aziz Sidki who made him one of four Deputy Prime Ministers in the government formed on January 17, 1971. He accompanied Sidki on the crucial one-day visit to Moscow on July 15, 1972, which led in 48 hours to the expulsion of the Soviet military advisers from Egypt.
The extra financial burden of the “No peace, no war” crisis brought a worsening economic situation and increasing discontent was focussed on him. He was strongly criticised for a wide range of economic problems drastic rises in meat and fish prices, black market traffic in food, and a wave of international smuggling. A month after a scandal over import permits which did not involve his integrity but did cause him to be blamed because of his overall responsibility for foreign trade he was an unfortunate victim of the ministerial purge by Sadat on March 27, 1973.
