The crisis dragged on for more than a month, while the Bundeskriminalamt carried out its biggest investigation to date.

The political and fiscal crisis has dragged on for months.

And as the Asian financial crisis drags on, the country's closest neighbors are not its best customers.

The state stepped in to buy power after the near-bankrupt utilities found themselves shut out of the market, and costs have risen as the crisis drags on.

But she acknowledged that all of them could suddenly become second-tier concerns if the crisis in the Balkans drags on.

However, if the crisis drags on or worsens, then growth could fall by up to 2pc.

As the political crisis drags on, the establishment's fear of the Welfare Party is slowly ebbing.

How exactly, one wonders as the crisis drags on, does a single hostage-taker hold six people at bay for days on end without tying them up?

"The longer the crisis drags on, the more intense the pressure from markets will get."

The longer the country's political crisis drags on, the harder it may become to draw the garment orders and the jobs they create back to Madagascar again.