Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Rania Al-Mashat revealed that the GDP growth rate increased by 3.5% during the first half of the fiscal year 2015/2016, Veto News reported Sunday. Mashat pointed out that the construction and real estate sectors contributed to the increase of the growth rate despite the decline in the tourism sector. She added that the net exports negatively contributed to GDP growth rate during the first half of the current fiscal year due to the decline of exports and the increase of imports.