• Suez Canal revenue hit an all-time record of $5.47bn last year to beat the previous record in 2008 of $5.38bn (nominal terms).
• This comes as President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has made the canal’s expansion a key part of Egypt’s economic revival. Ambitiously, the $8.5bn project is expected to be completed by August this year, but recent militant attacks in the Sinai could delay construction. Cairo hopes to double the canal’s annual revenue by 2023 by building a new 72km canal parallel to the current one to both speed up transit and two-way traffic (MEES, 8 August 2014). (CONTINUED - 298 WORDS)
