CAIRO: Unemployment in Egypt fell to 8.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 from 9.1 percent a year earlier, state news agency MENA said on Sunday.
There were 2.209 million people unemployed out of a workforce of 24.995 million, it said.
Unemployment rose from 8.6 percent in the previous quarter.
Egypt s economy is slowing because of the global financial crisis, with a decline in revenues from the Suez Canal and tourism.
The most populous Arab country said on Monday it expected economic growth to slow to between 4 and 4.5 percent in fiscal 2008/09 from 7.2 percent a year earlier.
The government has approved a stimulus package worth LE 15 billion ($2.66 billion), to be spent mainly on infrastructure projects to create jobs, which could be followed by another LE 15 billion in the 2009/10 fiscal year.
