Good news!! Canal revenues up!

[newcastle]

Al-Masry Al-Youm
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has insisted that revenue from the Suez Canal has increased since the opening of the “New Suez Canal” project last August, rather than decreasing, as suggested in some news reports.

Reuters reported recently that figures published by the Suez Canal Authority showed a drop in revenue over the course of the past year and the first two months of the present fiscal year.

However, during an inauguration speech for an agricultural land reclamation project on Thursday, Sisi refuted the claims of falling canal revenue.

“I have heard people saying that the revenues from the Suez Canal have shrunk. But no; in fact, they’ve grown… And I say that on authority," he said.

Sisi did not cite the exact figures of the canal’s revenue, nor the margin of increase.

The Suez Canal Authority announced in January that revenues for 2015 stood at US$5.175 billion, whereas revenues for 2014 were $5.465 billion – a fall of $290

http://www.egyptindependent.com//news/s ... trary-sisi


Goes to show you should never believe what your read in the papers

[Horus]

May I please ask if there is any hidden message encoded in your post, possibly Swahili ? as I speak the language and detect that you are being sarcastic.
Mr A Barfly, Tunbridge Wells

[newcastle]

Sarcastic? Moi?

As if....

Spoiler

If Mr Sisi says the revenues have increased who am I to argue

P.S. Surely there are Swahili speakers on this forum....or maybe Google translate can help?

[Hafiz]

Sarcasm in Swahili - now there is a dictionary project for the ages.

As regards the Canal - the President has spoken and income had 'adjusted' to respond to his command. Its one of the good things about a command economy - what you say happens - except the income from pesky international commercial sea-borne traffic frog-marches to another and non-Egyptian tune. Was there ever a feasibility study?

There were various contractors who built the new parallel canal but only one - and a uniformed Egyptian one - got the engineering so wrong that they flooded their particular project from the old canal (sorry too lazy to find the link).

I don't want to rain on anyone's military parade and I know that everyone in Egypt says the whole project was a great heroic contribution to the fatherland/motherland by its military benefactors and that everyone knows its benefits to Egypt will be 'beyond measure' (and ,therefore, made impossible to measure). Whilst patriotic heroism is one thing, good old drab Return on Investment is another and more sustainable measure of the benefit to the benighted Egyptian taxpayer. That taxpayer has just spent a few billion and, even on the presidents claims, the gross increase in income is slim and the return on new investment entirely ignored.

Where is an al Ahram analytical editorial when you need it?

[newcastle]

It'll be interesting to see if the government is able to redeem the paper it issued to the public in 5 (?) years' time. My guess is they'll just get replacement loan notes for a further period.

[carrie]

You three are such skeptics, can't understand it

[newcastle]

There are some things which are essential to living contentedly in Egypt if you are a foreigner.

Healthy doses of scepticism and cynicism are amongst them.

And especially a sense of humour attuned to the absurd.

It's a fool's errand to attempt to fathom someone's character from Internet posts but I do wonder if this explains why some, like Who2, seem so relaxed here whilst others, like MT, seem anything but.