The start of 2018 has been a good one for Egypt, with news that revenue from two pillars of its economy, the Suez Canal and tourism, hit three and five-year highs respectively in 2017 (see charts).
Tourism revenues collapsed in 2016 to $2.69bn after Moscow issued a travel ban to Egypt in the wake of the November 2015 downing of a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai. But it rebounded to $7.6bn last year, the highest since 2012. And it could be set to rise further this year after Moscow said it would be resuming flights to Cairo from February, although the ban on flights going to Sharm al-Shaikh, the Rea Sea resort previously popular with Russians, has yet to be lifted. (CONTINUED - 1109 WORDS)
