When Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced the New Suez Canal project, it was presented as the “project of the century,” with claims that it would generate more than $13 billion a year. According to Egypt’s Central Bank, more than 64 billion Egyptian pounds were raised through investment certificates in less than eight days.
Several years later, however, revenues remained between $5 billion and $6 billion, roughly the same level as before the expansion, according to figures from the Suez Canal Authority. Although investors received interest payments, the Egyptian pound lost significant value, falling from around 7 pounds to the dollar to around 60. This resulted in a major loss in purchasing power for investors including someone who had invested 100,000 pounds.
Many came to view the project as more of a symbolic national undertaking than a genuinely profitable investment. Critics also argued that the project had not been sufficiently studied, particularly given the slowdown in global trade at the time. The argument was that the main problem was not the speed of ships or congestion in the canal, but simply the number of ships using it.
When revenues rose to around $8 billion in 2022, critics argued that this increase was not necessarily the result of the canal expansion itself, but rather of higher shipping rates driven by wars and geopolitical tensions.
The project has also faced significant criticism in Egypt, particularly over the media propaganda and large-scale celebrations that accompanied its launch. This has led to a broader question: Did ordinary Egyptians ultimately end up paying for the project out of their own pockets?
