CAIRO, Nov 7 (KUNA) -- Two Egyptian economists indicated Friday that the upcoming Arab economic summit in Kuwait next January could afford Arab states a golden opportunity to bypass the current global financial meltdown through agreements to establish intra-Arab projects to revive the region's economic picture.
Chairman of the economic committee at the Egyptian parliament Mustafa al-Saeed acknowledged the enormity of the financial crisis gripping the world and attributed it in a great part to overcosumption by the American citizen in such a way that has overburdened the American budget, which has been in recent times reeling from rampant expenditure.
This has led the US to borrow from others in a bid to balance the budget or at least address the deficit in it, he said.
Former chairman of Egypt's Ahli Bank, Mahmoud Abdulaziz, sounded quite sure that the world financial crisis would not in any way affect his country, bragging that Egypt's banks are not within any danger or risk of default.
Underscoring the notion that the Egyptian financial system is not a reflection of that in the US, and therefore could not be affected by the latter's gyrations, he however called his country's government to reduce interest rates as a measure of energizing the economy.
He furthermore affirmed the necessity to have an open free market in Egypt with strong financial institutions that could easily fund vital economic projects without any red tape impediments. He asked that tariffs be eliminated at free trade zones. (end) bna.ajs KUNA 071714 Nov 08NNNN