A backlash in Egypt against capitalism as a result of the worldwide economic crisis and intervention by western governments to prop up banks has strengthened opponents of economic reform, a senior government official has said.

Rachid Mohamed Rachid, the trade and industry minister, insisted that the Egyptian government was still pushing ahead with an economic reform programme that began in 2004. The changes have helped the country attract record levels of foreign direct investment in recent years and grow at around 7 per cent.