feb 1 2011 151 while hundreds of thousands of citizens protest on the streets of egypt businesses and public services have languished and economists say the crisis could have significant longterm effects on the egyptian economy in the short term the economy has practically come to a standstill said ragui assaad professor at the university of minnesotas humphrey school of public affairs the protests have paralyzed ports and deliveries of goods the government has shut down internet access people have been unable or unwilling to go to work and there have food shortages at supermarkets and gasoline has become inaccessible he said for complete coverage of the crisis in egypt featuring exclusive reporting from christiane amanpour click here assaad who specializes in the egyptian labor market said the longer president hosni mubarak refuses to resign and the protests continue the more damage will take place the longer he remains in power the bigger the cost is going to be so far people have been willing to bear the cost like changing their dietary habits like eating accessible foods like falafel because they think change is coming assaad said he is on his way out but hes making the whole country pay the price arabianbusinesscom reported that egyptian telecommunication providers could lose millions of dollars because of the governments shutdown of the internet and communication services with reports that the united states and other countries have evacuated their foreign citizens assaad said tourism which is nearly half of egypts foreign revenues is especially suffering tourism which is a large part of the economy is being decimated assaad said foreign investors once banks open are going to take money out russell investments said the egyptian companies in its russell global index have lost 20 percentage points from jan 10 to jan 31 with most of the major losses beginning on jan 17 youre seeing a telegenic and extreme form of political risk said stephen wood chief market strategist with russell investments wood said it is still unclear what the impact of the protests will be on egypts financial markets and the 42 egyptian stocks listed in the russell global index is this the prague spring or tehran 79 is this colombia under president alvaro uribe or venezuela under president hugo chavez theres a big difference wood said these regime changes can have a significant effect markets hate uncertainty and this is very big uncertainty marjorie ransom a retired diplomat who was a public affairs officer in cairo during the 1990s said despite reports of a standstill economy she said she is very impressed and proud of the cooperation among the protestors i know the government has closed the banks and buses but street markets continue to function ransom said i am aware that people are getting food and theres extraordinary organization of citizens on the ground ransom and assaad said neighborhood committees are defending citizens and families against unrest assaad said the military asked citizens to form these committees to help