Egypt's Suez Canal revenues 'driven down by slowing global economy'

The ongoing slow down in the global economy has driven down revenues from the Suez Canal, one of Egypt's main sources of foreign currency, head of the Suez Canal Authority, Mohab Mamish, told business daily Al-Borsa Sunday.

Revenues from the canal dropped 9.4 percent in August to $462.1 billion, from $510 billion in the same period in 2014, after the opening of the Suez Canal expansion.

In August, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi opened a new shipping route in the canal as part of his programme to boost the Egyptian economy through mega projects.

However, a slowing global economy was further hampered by worries of falling global consumption of oil and a slowing down in China, the world's second largest economy.

The global slow down is expected to hit emerging markets on the back of falling commodity prices, prolonging the crisis.