'Egypt will get up to 100 per cent of the frozen money in the Swiss banks case it proves its illegality' -- Dominik Furgler, the Swiss ambassador to Egypt
'I believe that the real unemployment rate is not 11.9 per cent, as officially announced. In my view it is at least 20 per cent,' -- Mona El-Garff, professor of economics at Cairo University
'We are burdened with a $35 billion debt to foreign banks, mostly borrowed under the Hosni Mubarak regime, none of it to help the people,' -- Wael Gamal, a financial journalist and a member of group calling for writing off Egypt's dubious debt
'Our economy is intact but our finances are drying up. We are like a patient with anemia who badly needs a blood transfusion,'" -- Former Minister of Finance Hazem El-Biblawi
'Waiting for political stability to return right now is vital because investment is the problem. Investors do not like to invest in uncertain environments,' -- Caroline Freund, World Bank chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa Region
'The solution of the country's economic problems in the short run lies primarily in the hands of politicians, not economists,' -- Ahmed Galal, managing director of the Economic Research Forum
'Gulf tourists who came to Cairo this year did not come for entertainment or tourist purposes; they just came to follow up on their businesses,' -- Ezzat Abdel-Ghaffar, regional internal auditor at Travco
'Potential foreign investors are wary of the political and security situation in Egypt, so they simply postpone, or even cancel, their investment plans due to what is going on,' -- Salama El-Khouli, an economic expert at the National Bank of Egypt
'Terminating the contract of exporting gas to Israel is far better than increasing the price since it is ridiculous to export natural gas at marginal prices and import other petroleum products at international prices to fill the gap of domestic consumption,' -- Ibrahim Zahran, a member of the National Specialised Councils and former chairman of Khalda Petroleum Company, commenting on the natural gas export deal between Egypt and Israel
"Egypt has to borrow from abroad and it was a big mistake to refuse the IMF loan." -- Ahmed Ghoneim, professor of economics at Cairo university
"Banks' investments in treasuries choke off liquidity and give banks a good incentive not to lend private sector." -- Magda Kandil, executive director of the ECES
© Al Ahram Weekly 2011
