Mubarak wants to put the Central Bank under his office

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak who strongly attacked "thieves among businessmen" said that the Central bank will come under his supervision. This falls in an attempt to deal with the stumbled issue of debts local banks are facing. A matter which led to instability of the Egyptian economic condition and confidence entrusted in it.

The Egyptian dailies quoted Mubarak as saying during his return back from Libya that he had decided that the central bank should be under the office of the President of the Republic rather than the Prime Minister, stressing that "the draft law for banks including the central bank has been completed."

President Mubarak stressed that "trying the thieves" will be capable of preventing future thefts. Mubarak said, in reference to businessman who borrowed money and defaulted on payments and had fled the country, "we will not permit any one to steel and flee away. no one to steal the funds of the banks." He questioned "how can we accept those to steal the money and travel to Europe for tourism and then we say we will not punish them." He added "The damaging thing is to permit stealing assets of the banks."

The Egyptian daily al-Ahram said in July that the volume of defaulted debt loans that should be re-paid to banks is estimated at 12 billion Egyptian pound ( 2.6 billion dollars), representing 3.4% of the total debts estimated at 355 billion Egyptian pound borrowed from the banks by 200,000 persons.