CAIRO: Revenues of the Suez Canal are projected to rise to $13.5 billion by 2023, compared to the current revenues of $5.30 billion, Youm7 quoted a well-informed sources at the Suez Canal Authority Thursday.
“The Suez Canal comes in the fifth place among Egypt’s GDP after Egyptian expats remittances, commodity exports, oil and gas exports, direct foreign tourism and investment,” said Youm7.
According to Suez Canal Authority statistics, Universal Suez Ship Canal Company spent 20 million EGP ($2.55 million,) while the canal’s revenues since its nationalization recorded $90 billion.
The canal’s revenues reached $5.4 billion during 2014, while it harvested $21.1 billion during the period from 2010 to 2013, with an average of $5 billion each year.
However, the revenues plunged in 2009 to about $4.2 billion due to the global financial crisis and the naval piracy in Somalia coasts and Eden gulf.
“The total volume of cargo that crossed the canal during the period from June 1975 till May 2010 reached 15 billion tones; meanwhile, the number of vessels that have crossed since the inauguration till May 2010 totaled 616,896 ships,” Youm7 added.
Chairman of Suez Canal Authority Mohab Mamish assured in media statements that after the inauguration of the New Suez Canal, the profitability is expected to surge to between $18 and $20 billion in the upcoming years.
In a press conference earlier this week, Egypt’s Planning Minister Ashraf el-Arabi said that the revenues of the Suez Canal are expected to increase by 9 percent during the fiscal year 2015l2016, Nile TV reported Aug. 2.
“The upgraded canal is expected to speed up traffic along the waterway and to boost its revenues, projected to more than double from $5.3 billion at the end of 2015 to $13.2 billion in 2023, according to official estimates,” said Nile TV.
The waterway, the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia, is a vital source of hard currency for Egypt, particularly since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak and scared off tourists and foreign investment.