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Mohamed El-Erian, the former chief executive of US-based global investment management firm Pacific Investment Management Company, known as Pimco, is rumoured to become a key economic advisor to Egyptian Defence Minister General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as he makes his presidential bid, according to Egyptian newspaper Youm7.

El-Erian is a well-known figure on Wall Street and regularly appears as an economic commentator for mainstream Western media outlets. The New York Times once described him as "the crown prince of the multitrillion-dollar global bond market."

In 2012, US President Barack Obama appointed El-Erian to head the US Global Development Council, an advisory council administered by the US Agency for International Development that provides "advice to the president and other senior US officials on US global development policies and practices," according to the official White House web site.

Earlier this month El-Erian sang the praises of Stanley Fischer, the former head of the Bank of Israel, in a column for CNBC. He called Fischer an "inspired choice" to join the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve, arguing that: "Mr Fischer's admirable qualities go beyond his enormous and highly-admired talent, experience and personal integrity."

According to a column El-Erian had previously penned for the Financial Times newspaper, he and Fischer worked "closely" together at the International Monetary Fund in the 1990s.

Last week El-Erian announced his surprise resignation as the head of Pimco, creating a media storm and widespread panic among the firm's investors. Despite his Wall Street connections, Youm7 reports that El-Erian will be devising an economic programme for Al-Sisi that is modelled on the one put forth by former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.