Dr. Youssef Boutros-Ghali the Minister of Finance assured that foreign debt service rates to the current balance had declined from 5.9% in June 2007 to 4.3 percent in June 2008, also the domestic debt rates to the proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) have fallen from 62.2% to 59.9% during the same period.

He added that these indicators point to solid fundamentals of the Egyptian economy, and its ability to face the global financial crisis, and limit the spread of its effects.

Dr. Ghali expected the extension of the global financial crisis effects to the end of 2009 in light of the unavailability of information and data on the extent of its depth and spread in the banks and global financial institutions, and expected that such data to the United States and European countries in June 2009, This will enable us to deal with the crisis during the next six months.This came during his talks with the Swiss Minister of Economy Doris Leuthard and her accompanying of Egyptian and Swiss businessmen.

Dr. Ghali added that the talks touched on financial reforms needed by the global financial and monetary system, the most important is the reform of the infrastructure of existing institutions for the control of monetary and financial policies in the world, And to make sure of its commitment to global standards and good practices by control institutions, and separation of regulatory institutions and the mechanisms, institutions and existing mechanisms to review the control standards.

(Source: Ministry of Finance)