The national economy grew 7.4 percent in the January-March quarter, the third quarter of the 2006/7 financial year, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said on Tuesday. He was quoted by the state news agency Mena.

The growth rate compares with 7.2 percent in the first half of the year and suggests that the Egyptian government will come close to meeting its target of 7.5 percent for 2006/7.

Nazif was speaking in parliament in response to questions about unemployment, which Nazif said had fallen to 9 percent from 11 percent in December 2005.