Egypt denies plans to sell Suez Canal for $1 trillion | Economy

The Egyptian government denied on Saturday an audio clip that said it planned to sell the Suez Canal for $1 trillion.

The Egyptian Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement published on its Facebook page today, “Some social media pages circulated an audio clip claiming that the government intends to sell the Suez Canal for one trillion dollars. The media center of the Cabinet contacted the Suez Canal Authority, which denied this news.”

She added, “There is no truth to the government’s intention to sell the Suez Canal for a trillion dollars, and the circulated audio clip is fabricated, and the information contained in it is false and has no connection to reality.”

The Egyptian Prime Minister’s Office indicated that the Suez Canal will remain fully owned by the Egyptian state and subject to its sovereignty, whether in its management, operation or maintenance, and the entire staff of the Canal Authority, including employees, technicians and administrators, will remain Egyptian citizens.

She explained that the canal or any of its facilities, which are constitutionally protected under Article 43 of the Egyptian Constitution, cannot be touched.

This article stipulates that “the state is committed to protecting, developing and preserving the Suez Canal as an international waterway owned by it, and is also committed to developing the canal sector as a distinguished economic centre.”

Suez Canal in numbers

• The Suez Canal is one of the most important canals and straits in the world, and is the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
• The Suez Canal is one of Egypt’s main sources of hard currency, and its revenues constitute one of the country’s most important sources of foreign currency.
• In the fiscal year 2022-2023, the channel achieved financial revenues of $9.4 billion, which is the highest annual revenue it has recorded, and an increase of about 35% over the previous year.
• Egypt’s Suez Canal toll fell 7.4% in the July-March period of fiscal year 2023-24 to $5.8 billion from $6.2 billion as Israel’s war on Gaza expanded to include the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the Red Sea.