Hon Speaker, thank you, hon Deputy President, for that response. I think there was a gremlin or a misprint when the United Nations was referred to - it should have been the United States, and I am sorry for that. However, I picked it up a bit too late.
This arose from reports - and I want to emphasise "reports" - by certain newspapers that the United States was going to threaten to disallow any country from doing business with its Federal Bank if they bought oil from Iran. However, we have noted in recent times that our oil imports from Iran have reduced drastically. We welcome these new initiatives to look elsewhere in Africa and other parts of the world for oil supplies, because if we look at the fluctuation in the price of crude oil, we notice it has been as low as $30 a barrel, going right up to $145 a barrel. In addition, fuel to the consumer went from R3,50 per litre 10 years ago to R12,20 per litre a few weeks ago.
The question, Mr Deputy President, is this: When the US threatened to impose the sanctions on our banks, did government consider the impact it would have on our relations with the Federal Bank of the United States vis- -vis our banks here in South Africa? Thank you.