Given that Egypt is a part of the global economy, how will the crisis affect it?
We are very fortunate in that we will not be affected in the same way that the advanced economies have been. The reasons are that, first, our economy has not reached the sophistication that other advanced market economies have reached, in terms of the financial markets and in terms of adopting derivatives and complex financial products. Second, our mortgage law has just recently been adopted and our financial leasing has been recently adopted, so the mortgage issue has not grown in Egypt in the way it has in the world economy. Sophistication and complexity, these are the two key words. The third reason that we are faring reasonably well is the fact that we have very seriously reformed our economy in the past four years. Whether it is monetary policy, whether it is fiscal policy or whether it is trade policy, we have accomplished a great deal. We have also reorganized and strengthened the banks. We have reduced the number of banks dramatically by merging the smaller banks into stronger
