Egypt’s economy grew at 4.3 per cent in the quarter ended December compared with 1.4 per cent during the same period last year, Planning Minister Ashraf al-Arabi said on Saturday.

Arabi told Reuters that his country’s gross domestic product grew at 5.6 per cent in the first half of the 2014-15 fiscal year, which began in July, versus 1.2 per cent in the year-earlier period.