The Arab Spring has achieved a lot: from deposing long-standing regimes to giving people in Arab  countries a voice to speak out against inequality.

In light of the revolution, Egypt had an estimated growth of less than 2% in FY2010/11 from an economic growth rate of 7% in FY2006/07.

Without handing out any blame, the fact of the matter is that the economy has suffered on several fronts, and there are numbers to prove it.

To start, banks and the stock exchange were closed for six weeks following the onset of the January 25 Revolution, the Egyptian pound has depreciated to LE 6.02 per US dollar, tourism has slowed down and foreign direct investment (FDI) has declined. These are just a few of the costs of the Arab Spring on the Egyptian economy so far.

One thing is evident: There is global interest in the potential contribution that the new Arab world will have on global commerce, security and political maturity according to Geopolicity, a strategic advisory consulting firm.

Before January 2011, Egypt’s GDP had started to recover from the hit it had taken from the eurozone financial crises, recording a growth rate of 5.6% during the first half of FY2010/11, picking up from 4.8% a year earlier. The recovery was attributed to three stimulation packages that were pumped into infrastructure and construction that make up nearly 17% of GDP.

Following the January events, GDP recorded a negative growth of 4.7%, lowering overall GDP growth to 2.5% from July 2010 to March 2011.

In April, the economy started to pick up again with the GDP recording 0.3% growth backed by a slight recovery in the industrial and tourism sectors, which contribute an estimated 12% and 7% respectively.

As the parliamentary elections kicked off, many were optimistic that the uncertainty in Egypt was about to come to an end, but continued clashes between protesters and security forces in Tahrir still continue to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths and more people are fearful of what is yet to come. Nevertheless, the diversity of Egypt’s GDP could be the lifeline that will help pull the economy up once the cash is made available. bt

The full version of this article is available in the January 2012 issue of Business Today Egypt