CAIRO: The Egyptian economy grew at an annualized rate of 5.8 percent in the three months to the end of September, the lowest quarterly rate in at least two years, the country s economic development minister said. Minister Osman Mohamed Osman, in remarks quoted by the state newspaper Al-Ahram on Wednesday, said the decline in the growth rate was the result of the world financial crisis. The rate of economic growth in the first quarter of the financial year retreated to 5.8 percent, he said. The Egyptian government has said growth for the current financial year, which ends in June 2009, could drop to around 6 percent as the global crisis hits revenue from tourism, exports, and the Suez Canal. Gross domestic product growth jumped to a record of 7.2 percent in the 2007/08 financial year, the highest in over 20 years, helped by petrodollar investments from the Gulf Arab region. The latest quarterly rate compares to 6.6 percent in the April-June 2008 quarter and 6.9 percent in the July-September 2007 quarter, according to Reuters data.
