Egypt interim PM a liberal former finance minister

Hazem al-Beblawi, named head of Egypt's interim government on Monday, is a liberal economist who served as finance minister during the transitional military rule that followed the 2011 ouster of Hosni Mubarak.

His appointment by caretaker leader Adly Mansour comes almost a week after the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

It also comes at a time of heightened tensions between the army and Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, which accused troops and police of "massacring" dozens of its supporters during a protest against the coup in Cairo on Monday.

Beblawi, 76, studied in Cairo and Paris, where he obtained a doctorate in economics.

During his long career, he worked in public and private institutions, both at home and abroad, including as head of Egypt's Export Development Bank between 1983 and 1995.

He has also taught at several universities around the world and has written numerous books and articles on finance in Arabic, French and English.

In 1995, he joined the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia, before serving as adviser to the Arab Monetary Fund in Abu Dhabi until Mubarak's overthrow.

Just months after the revolution, he was appointed deputy prime minister and then finance minister in the transitional government of Essam Sharaf, who was installed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in March that year.

He left office when Sharaf's government quit in November 2011 amid wrangling with the military over the powers granted to the future elected government.

Beblawi had already offered his own resignation that October in protest at the killing of Coptic Christians during clashes with the security forces. But it was rejected by the military.