Egypt's economy grows by 1.1% in first quarter Join our daily free Newsletter

Egypt's economy grew by 1.1% in the first quarter of the 2014/15 fiscal year which began in July, according to a report on Tuesday by state-owned Al-Ahram.

The figure was 6.8% higher than the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal year, which was hit by political instability and violence following the military's ousting of former president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July 2013. El-Araby attributed the improvement to growth in the tourism and construction sectors, as well as increased revenues from the Suez Canal.

Minister of Planning Ashraf El-Araby said during a press conference that GDP growth rates in the first quarter show that the government's economic reform programme is working and will bolster the report currently being prepared by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is expected to be published before the March economic summit.