Egypt's Suez Canal revenues 'driven down by slowing global economy'
Ahram Online, Sunday 18 Oct 2015
Despite the opening of the Suez Canal expansion, revenues from the watercourse dropped in August relative to the previous year


The ongoing slow down in the global economy has driven down revenues from the Suez Canal, one of Egypt's main sources of foreign currency, head of the Suez Canal Authority, Mohab Mamish, told business daily Al-BorsaSunday.

Revenues from the canal dropped 9.4 percent in August to $462.1 million, from $510 million in the same period in 2014, after the opening of the Suez Canal expansion.

In August, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi opened a new shipping route in the canal as part of his programme to boost the Egyptian economy through mega projects.

However, a slowing global economy was further hampered by worries of falling global consumption of oil and a slowing down in China, the world's second largest economy.

The global slow down is expected to hit emerging markets on the back of falling commodity prices, prolonging the crisis.

The Suez Canal Authority is preparing a detailed report on the exact causes for the drop in revenues, Mamish was quoted as saying by Al-Borsa.

Egypt's net foreign reserves dropped for the third consecutive month to $16.335 billion at the end of September.

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