Egypt's economic growth rate shrunk by 21 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year which started July 2012 recording 2.6 per cent compared to 3.3 per cent in the preceding quarter, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf Al-Arabi announced in a press conference on Saturday. Applying annual comparison which corrects for seasonal economic activity, Al-Arabi said that growth rate has risen when compared to the July – September period of 2011 which marked 0.3 per cent. He optimistically expected that Egypt's economy will grow 3.5 per cent in the current fiscal year which will end on 30 June 2013, a figure previously announced in the governments plan announced two weeks ago. Gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices rose from LE402.1 billion in Q1 of 2011/12 to LE445.8 billion in the corresponding quarter in 2012/13. Total investments fell by 1.6 per cent to LE49.3 billion in July-Sep 2012, down from LE50.1 billion in the same period last year. Private sector investments made up 70 per cent of the total in the first quarter of the FY 2012/13, up from 66 per cent a year earlier. According to Al-Arabi, most economic sectors saw a performance boost with manufacturing, construction and tourism growing 2.8, 5.4 and 0.6 per cent respectively. Only Suez Canal and extractive activities slipped by 3.4 and 0.1 per cent respectively. Albawaba
