🔻Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi says the Suez Canal has lost a total of about $20 billion in revenue since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and following disruptions to shipping traffic caused by the Israeli and U.S. military attack on Iran.

The Egyptian president, in a televised meeting attended by members of the cabinet, senior military commanders, and governors, attributed the unstable state of the government budget and low spending in education and health sectors to geopolitical instability—conditions that have led to higher prices for food and fuel.

El-Sisi said: “Does this situation affect us? Of course it affects us very much.”

Ship traffic through the Suez Canal was significantly disrupted after that, as Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, following the start of the war in Gaza, began attacks on ships heading to Israel via the Suez Canal.

According to a report published in July/Tir by the Oxford Economics research institute, since then the level of ship traffic on this route has remained between 60 and 70 percent lower than before the war.

📸 Reuters