New Suez Canal income slowly sinking
The new Suez Canal is now two years old and facing public scrutiny, as it is far from achieving what officials pledged.
CAIRO — It's been two years since the new Suez Canal opened. At the time, the project was massively promoted as one that would benefit Egyptians of all backgrounds. So far, it has failed to deliver the expected revenue, though business development projects are in the works.
The canal opened Aug. 6, 2015, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports celebrated the anniversary last month. One wonders, however, why the canal hasn't fulfilled the government's promise of profits.
When Lt. Gen. Mohab Mamish, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, announced the canal was complete, he said annual revenue would reach $13.4 billion, from about $5 billion at that time. Revenue has barely budged since then, and in fact has declined somewhat. Mamish was counting, however, on growth of global trade, which has suffered the past two years, according to Rashad Abdo, an economic expert and head of the Egyptian Forum for Political and Economic Studies.
“The Suez Canal is a global facility that relies heavily on global trade and not on local trade. The Suez Canal revenue is expected to increase when the global trade movement regains its natural pace," he told Al-Monitor.
