Egypt's economy grew around an annualised 4.7 per cent in the third quarter of the 2008/2009 (July/June) fiscal year, state news agency Mena reported on Saturday, citing a finance ministry report.

The figure compared with 4.2 percent in the second quarter of the same fiscal year, according to Mena, and suggested that most sectors of the country's economy had resumed growing despite the global downturn.

Egypt's cabinet said in May that the country's third quarter economic growth stood at an annualised 4.3 percent, compared with 4.1 percent in the second quarter.

Finance ministry officials were not immediately available to comment on why the figures in Saturday's report differ from the cabinet's figures.

The report said the highest rates of growth were in the telecom and mining sectors, according to Mena.

Egypt's finance minister said in May that economic growth may reach an annualised rate of 4.5 percent in the second quarter of 2009.

Analysts say Egypt's financial system is flush with cash, helping the Arab world's most populous nation ride out a global credit crunch. But the downturn in the world economy has hurt key earners such as tourism, Suez Canal receipts, oil and gas export revenues and remittances from workers.-Reuters