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Egypt’s Suez Canal maritime traffic generates $15 million daily, Spokesman says

Published

2 years ago

May 27, 2022

The Egyptian Suez Canal Authority (SCA), has disclosed that the international maritime traffic it has generated in recent months has hit a record high $15 million daily for the North African country.

The spokesman for the SCA, Gorge Safwat, said on Thursday while hosting top business journalists from sub-Saharan Africa at the headquarters of the company in Ismailia District, northeast of Cairo, that the Authority is planning on increasing the revenue before the end of the year.

Safwat explained that so far, up to one billion tons of maritime cargo pass through the canal every year while up to 20,000 ships had passed through the canal in the first quarter of 2022, carrying goods to various countries around the globe.

The SCA spokesman added that the canal which is the longest man-made canal in the world has been recording yearly increased revenue and generated about $5.61 billion in 2020, due to the “determination and doggedness of Egyptians.”

The Suez Canal Authorities made about $6.3 billion from its activities last year,” Safwat said, adding that the construction of the canal 152 years ago demonstrated the “will power and can-do spirit of Egyptians.”

“It took about one million Egyptians and 120,000 deaths to put the Suez Canal in place in 1859,” Safwat said while tracing the history of the Suez Canal.

Safwat noted that the number of ships using the canal daily had increased from 45 per day in 2015 to 60 per day at present, describing the route as one of the safest in the world.

The Suez Canal, the largest and longest in the world, stretches from Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea to the city of Suez on the northeastern shores of the Gulf of Suez, separating Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula.

The 193-km Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea at the canal’s northern end to the Red Sea in the south and it provides the shortest link between Asia and Europe.

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IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

Published

11 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following the completion of a recent visit to Egypt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that its mission had achieved significant strides in policy talks aimed at concluding the fourth review of the IMF loan program.

The review is the fourth in Egypt’s most recent 46-month IMF loan program, which was authorised in 2022 and increased to $8 billion this year following an economic crisis characterised by high inflation and chronic foreign exchange shortages. It may unleash more than $1.2 billion in financing.

Along with reaffirming its commitment to maintain a flexible exchange rate system, the IMF stated that Egypt “has implemented key reforms to preserve macroeconomic stability,” including the unification of the currency rate that facilitated imports.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Cairo has asked the IMF to modify the targets for the programme not only for this year, but for its full duration, he added without giving more details.

“Discussions will continue over the coming days to finalize agreement on the remaining policies and reforms that could support the completion of the fourth review,” the IMF added in its statement.

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Kenya seeks $750m from World Bank, obtains $200m from AfDB— Official

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The head of debt management for the finance ministry told Reuters that Kenya had obtained a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and was negotiating a fresh $750 million loan with the World Bank.

After being forced to abandon proposed tax rises costing more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion) in June due to fatal demonstrations, the East African nation’s administration, which has been grappling with significant debt, has been frantically seeking fresh funding.

The Finance Ministry’s public debt management office director general, Raphael Owino, told Reuters that the IMF’s October clearance of the seventh and eighth reviews, which opened the door for a $606 million loan tranche, had aided the ministry’s talks for more loans.

“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”

The discussions for more assistance, which came under the World Bank’s “Development Policy Operations” (DPO) with the government, were confirmed by a representative at the organization’s Kenya office.

“The amount of the current (loan) is yet to be determined. The amount will also depend on the implementation of the policy reforms agreed upon,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that past DPO loans averaged about $750 million.

In May, the World Bank approved the latest round of DPO loans, totalling $1.2 billion.

According to a statement made last month by Finance Minister John Mbadi, Kenya has set a foreign borrowing goal of 168 billion shillings for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.