CAIRO: Egypt's economic growth rate could rebound to between 7 and 9 percent after the global economic crisis, local media on Tuesday quoted the country's finance minister as saying, even as the Arab world's most populous nation braced for what analysts predicted would be a steep fall in revenues in vital sectors like tourism. Youssef Boutros-Ghali also said that based on consumption indicators and government policies to boost growth, he believes Egypt will be able to weather the current economic slump, Al-Ahram and Al-Akhbar newspapers reported. The minister gave no timeframe as to when he expected the growth rate to rebound or the global crisis to end. Boutros-Ghali's remarks, made at a conference on Monday, reflected another show of optimism by the government in a country that has over the past couple of years seen its reform program help propel gross domestic product growth to slightly over 7 percent. Even so, Egypt faces daunting challenges, with about 20 percent of its 78 million residents living below the poverty line of $2 per day, according to the World Bank. The global meltdown has already pushed economic growth down to 4.1 percent in the second quarter of fiscal 2008-2009, and is expected to squeeze key sectors like the Suez Canal and tourism. Many Egyptians worry that drop will only deepen after a French teen was killed in a bombing Sunday night at a Cairo tourist hotspot. The attack was the first targeting tourists in the country in three years.S
