www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

WORLD> Middle East
Financial crisis may end boom for Suez Canal
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-20 15:59

ISMAILIA, Egypt -- Winding through this small Egyptian town like an artery, pumping cash into its hospitals and schools and beyond into the wider economy, the Suez Canal has flourished as a shipping shortcut.

People look at the AKER H6-E offshore oil rig being towed through the Suez Canal, in Ismailia city this May 8, 2008 file photo. [Agencies]

Now the faltering global economy, coupled with a rise in piracy to the canal's south, looks set to end the high times for the waterway and the town Egyptians call its bride.

The canal, versions of which were first built by pharaohs more than three millennia ago, has helped the world's most populous Arab country to its fastest growth in decades, contributing 3.3 percent of gross domestic product in the 2007/2008 fiscal year.

A near "perfect storm" of world trends has lifted revenue from the 190-km (110-mile) waterway to record levels: a surge in global trade powered by China and India, higher global shipping costs, capacity problems with the Panama Canal and higher oil prices forcing shippers to take shorter routes.

Those factors made it possible to hike canal transit fees from April by an average 7.1 percent while August revenues hit another monthly record of $504.5 million.

Samah Afafa Yousof, a lawyer at one of the canal's subsidiaries and a member of Ismailia's council, said her annual salary had tripled to about 1,500 Egyptian pounds ($270) as the fortunes of the canal have risen.

"This is the best age for the canal, in all its history," said Yousof, 28, whose father recently won an award for 25 years of service to the canal.

But some are predicting tougher times ahead.

Cairo-based investment bank EFG-Hermes says the canal may earn a record $6.1 billion this fiscal year, up about 18 percent from the fiscal year that ended in June.

But it sees revenue growth slowing to 10 percent in the 2009/2010 fiscal year, with declining European demand presenting a significant downside risk.

"The big boom in world trade and the rise in oil led to a big rise in our daily operations," Suez Canal Authority Chairman Ahmed Fadel said in July. "(But) we are a part of the global economic situation, and we expect any decline in growth to have an effect on sea trade."

   Previous page 1 2 3 Next Page  
主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧美激情一区二区三区高清视频 | 亚洲一区二区精品 | 久久99精品久久久久久久野外 | 国产性大片黄在线观看在线放 | 国产精品精品国产一区二区 | av国产精品 | 欧美18www | 美国毛片aa | 永久网站色视频在线观看免费 | 欧美极品欧美精品欧美视频 | 一级一级 a爱片免费视频 | 久久亚洲精品无码观看不卡 | 亚洲专区视频 | 久久www免费人成看国产片 | 美女免费在线视频 | 99精品国产高清一区二区三区香蕉 | 日韩一品在线播放视频一品免费 | 黄www| 一个人看的免费观看日本视频www | 精品色视频 | 久久综合九九 | 亚洲精品福利一区二区三区 | 国产精品高清视亚洲精品 | 91精品久久一区二区三区 | 亚洲三级黄色 | 日韩国产毛片 | 99久久香蕉国产综合影院 | 欧美视频在线观看 | 日韩视频久久 | 国产精选91热在线观看 | 日韩精品视频在线 | 三级毛片免费看 | 国产区一区二区三 | 一区视频 | 日韩1级片| 久草在线免费看 | 日本加勒比在线视频 | 成人α片 | 欧美一区二区在线视频 | 日本一区三区二区三区四区 | 精品视频 九九九 |