Egypt's Finance Minister Samir Radwan said on Thursday the economy may grow as slowly as 3 percent in the year to the end of June if production does not get back on track.   

"Our estimates in the Finance (Ministry) currently is a growth rate between 3.5 to 4 percent in the current year, which might be closer to 3 percent in the event the production stoppage continues, as is it currently is," he told reporters.

Before the crisis that toppled Hosni Mubarak from the presidency, Egypt had been expecting growth of around 6 percent.

"There is a three billion dollar deficit in the balance of payments and Egyptian exports have been reduced by 40 percent since the time of the revolution till now," Radwan said at a news conference.   

The economy grew by 5.1 percent in the 2009/10 financial year. - Reuters