CAIRO, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazef expressed his confidence on Sunday that Egypt's banking system is strong enough to confront the impact of the current global financial crisis.
Nazef made the remarks at a joint press conference with Egyptian Central Bank Governor Farouq al-Oqda and Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieddin.
The Egyptian banking system has the capability of fully absorbing the international financial crisis "without any negative impact," said Nazef.
The prime minister noted that the ongoing global crisis could impact his country on three aspects, namely the banking sectors, the stock market and the growth rate of the economy.
The Central Bank has taken necessary measures to diversify the currency basket and set an maximum limit to foreign deposits, which are meant to lessen the impact of the international markets, he said.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian stock market witnessed unprecedented steep losses on Tuesday with its key index plummeted more than 16 percent amid concerns about the prolonged U.S. credit crisis, hitting a two-year low.
According to a report on Saturday, Nazef said the global financial turmoil may slow down the Egyptian economic growth rate from 7 percent to 6 percent.
The Egyptian government would take measures to counteract the negative impact of the crisis on the country's growth rate, said Nazef.
