Egypt may face lower revenues from tourism and shipping passing through the Suez Canal but remains relatively well protected from the global economic turmoil, President Hosni Mubarak said on Wednesday.

"I think the crisis is going to continue, it's a crisis that will be there for some time longer," Mubarak told reporters after a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.

"In Egypt we are maybe in a better situation than some other countries but we risk having problems regarding our imports, regarding tourism revenues and also revenues from the Suez Canal," he said.

Mubarak discussed the crisis at his lunch meeting with Sarkozy who had pressed for Egypt to be invited to the Nov. 15 financial summit in Washington although in the event Saudi Arabia was the only Arab country included at the meeting.

The Egyptian government said earlier this month it was maintaining its growth target at 6 to 7 percent for the current 2008/9 financial year and would take steps to counteract any fallout from the global financial crisis.

Egyptian officials have said the banking system is sound and has no liquidity or credit problems.

But they have also said there were worries that recession in the United States and Europe would hit tourism, Egyptian exports, foreign investment and Suez Canal revenue.