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Egypt's Sisi offers public new Suez Canal investment bonds

Xinhua, March 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi issued a decree law on Monday to offer new bonds for the public to invest in the Suez Canal project, state-run MENA news agency reported.

The value of the certificates and their returns will be deposited in the account of the authority at the central Bank of Egypt, according to MENA.

However, the decree did not mention how much funding the government was seeking.

The decree came days after Egypt signed agreements worth 36.2 billion U.S. dollars during the three-day Egypt Economic Development Conference in South Sinai city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

In September last year, Cairo said the public's purchases of the New Suez canal investment certificates hit 60 billion Egyptian pounds (about 8.4 billion U.S. dollars), an amount the authorities said was required for financing the new mega project.

The 163km-long canal is one of the world's most important waterways since it allows ships to travel between Europe and South Asia without navigating around Africa, thereby reducing the voyage distance between Europe and India by about 7,000 km.

It has been an essential source for hard currency except tourism, which has been withering since 2011 uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.

In August last year, Egypt launched a project to dig a new 72km canal alongside the original Suez Canal. The new one is supposed to be inaugurated this August and is expected to provide more than one million job opportunities.

The new artificial waterway, which is part of a larger project to expand Suez port and shipping facilities, and to build large industrial zones, is designed to raise Egypt's international profile, and build the nation as a major trade hub. Endit