Egypt first-half GDP growth slumps to 4.5% from 5.5% in previous year

Egypt’s economy grew 4.5% in the first half of 2015-16, down from 5.5% growth in the previous year, the planning minister said yesterday.Total GDP for first half of fiscal year 2015-16, which began in July, was 1.4tn Egyptian pounds ($158bn) in the first half compared with 1.275tn pounds in the same period last year, minister Ashraf al-Arabi told a news conference.Second quarter growth for 2015-16 was 3.8%, down from 4.3% a year earlier.Al-Arabi said that his government is targeting less than 4.5% growth in second half of the current fiscal year and a total of 4.4 % of 2016, due to militant attacks that hit the tourism industry and other problems that had affected the economy.A series of setbacks including the crash of an EgyptAir flight into the Mediterranean last week have affected Egypt’s ailing economy.Egypt’s tourism industry, a cornerstone of the economy and a critical source of hard currency, has struggled to rebound since the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule ushered in a period of political and economic upheaval.Al-Arabi said Egypt was targeting 5.2% growth in 2016-17 and 5% in the following year.The government is also targeting a budget deficit of 9.8% for 2016-17 and 9% for 2017-18.Egypt has lurched from crisis to crisis in recent months, straining the tourism sector and the economy as a whole.The number of tourists fell 40% in the first quarter of 2016 compared to last year due in large part to the suspected bombing of a Russian plane carrying 224 people from a Red Sea resort in late October.Islamic State said it had smuggled a bomb aboard.In March, a man wearing a fake suicide belt hijacked an EgyptAir plane and diverted it to Cyprus.More than 14.7mn tourists visited Egypt in 2010, dropping to 9.8mn in 2011.