Economic reform measures adopted by Egypt curbed the impact of the global economic crisis, said an Egyptian official.

However, economic growth rates dropped from 7 percent in 2008 to 4.5 in 2009 and the industrial growth rate plunged from 8 percent in 2008 to 4.8 percent in 2009, the

Egyptian Assistant Trade and Industry Minister Samiha Fawzi added.

Egyptian petroleum and non-petroleum exports also went down, Fawzi said at the closing session of a Paris meeting of the Trade Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

She added that foreign investments in Egypt shaved off almost LE5 billion in 2009.

(Source: Arab Finance)