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Tugboats escort the Thalassa Avra container ship as it passes through the New Suez Canal, operated by the Suez Canal Authority, during the official opening ceremony in Ismailia, Egypt. Image Credit: Bloomberg

Ismailia: Egypt’s Suez Canal revenues rose to $493.3 million (Dh1.81 billion) in July, a Reuters calculation showed on Monday. Suez Canal Authority Chief Mohab Mamish said that revenues for July rose by $46.2 million compared with the same month last year.

Revenues in the first six months of 2018 increased by $400 million compared with the same period a year before, Mamish said. Revenue for the 2017-2018 fiscal year increased by about 12 per cent, posting a record high of $5.585 billion.

Egypt has said that an $8 billion army-led expansion of the canal completed in 2015 would increase canal revenues to $13 billion by 2023.

The canal is the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia and one of the government’s main sources of foreign currency.