Egypt’s revenues from the Suez Canal totaled $510 million in August, a 12 percent increase from the $455 million generated in the same time last year, according to Egypt’s Information Portal (EIP).
The new figure also represents a 5.8 percent rise from the previous month’s revenues of $482.2 million, Ahram Online reported.
According to Mohab Memish, the head of the canal authority (SCA), revenues reached a substantial $5.3 billion in the fiscal year ending June 2013, the highest revenues since its opening in 1869 and a 5.5 percent increase from the last fiscal year.
The number of vessels passing through the canal this August amounted to 1,577, an 8.8 percent increase from 1,449 vessels in the same period a year earlier, showed the EIP data.
The artificial waterway which connects the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea is one of the country’s main sources of foreign currency revenue, along with tourism and remittances from Egyptian expatriates.
