Egypt revenues from the Suez Canal declined to $448.8m in September, compared with $462.1m in August, according to a report issued by the Suez Canal Authority on Monday.
Moreover, revenues fell by $21m compared to September 2014, when it reached $469.8m. The drop occurred even though the number of ships increased in September 2015 to 1,515 compared to 1,458 in September 2014.
The website also indicated that revenues of the canal within the first nine month of 2015 have amounted to about $3.88bn compared to $4.09bn during the same period of 2014. The drop is of about $207m, although the number of ships increased to 13,144 ships during the first nine month of 2015 from 12,646 ships during the same period last year.
Egypt depends on the Suez Canal as a major source of foreign currency, dollars, besides remittances from Egyptians abroad, and Egyptian exports and tourism revenues. The decline indicates that a similar decline of $13.3m took place in Egypt’s foreign currency in September.
The Suez Canal Authority’s data showed that the number of ships transiting in September fell to 1,515 ships from 1,585 ships in August.
The current regime in Egypt depends on expected revenues of the New Suez Canal recently opened in August, where Al-Sisi’s government aspires to have the new canal help the national economy.
The Suez Canal Authority expects revenues to reach up to $13.2bn by 2023, which is over two times more than realised revenue in 2014 of $5.4bn.
The New Suez Canal was established to allow ships to transit in both directions, without stopping in the canal’s waiting areas, to reduce the transit time.
According to earlier statements by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the economic zone of the Suez Canal is the focus point of the world, and will contribute to opening the door for huge investments in logistics and industrial sectors for export, in addition to the implementation of East Port Said Port expansion project.
