The Egyptian government has said the country's economic growth had accelerated to an annualised 5.9% in the three months to end-June, Reuters has reported. "This indicates a near full recovery from the global crisis and a return to the path of rapid economic growth similar to the period before the global crisis," economic development minister Osman Mohamed Osman said in a statement. Gross domestic product for the financial year to end-June grew 5.3%, faster than the 4.7 % growth in 2008/09. Egyptian growth hit a record 7.2% in 2007/08 before the global downturn curbed tourism, foreign direct investment and Suez Canal revenues in the Arab world's most populous country.