Egypt cut its economic growth forecast for the current fiscal year after the downing of a Russian passenger jet last year battered tourism, Finance Minister Hany Kadry Dimian said Monday. The revision to a range of 4% to 4.25% from a previous estimate of 5% underlines the challenges Egypt has faced trying to rally an economy that has struggled since the 2011 uprising that toppled the former dictator Hosni Mubarak. Egypt has largely relied on Persian Gulf Arab allies that have pumped tens of billions of dollars in aid, grants and investments since the ouster of president Mohammed Mursi in July 2013, Bloomberg reported. The negative impact of the Metrojet passenger plane crash in October near the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, which killed all 224 people on board, has been amplified by a foreign currency crunch that has crippled some companies. The crash “has had an impact on tourism,” Dimian said. “Tourism is one of the major sectors, not just as a driver of growth and one of the biggest sources of current-account receipts but because it has a higher multiplier impact on other industries,” he said.
