RIYADH: Egypt’s General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone reported a 38 percent year-on-year increase in revenue in the fiscal year 2024/25, reaching 11.43 billion Egyptian pounds ($234 million).
According to a statement from the Egyptian Cabinet, the authority also recorded a surplus of 8.49 billion pounds during the same period, SCZONE Chairman Walid Gamal El-Din told Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly during a meeting to review the zone’s performance and investment pipeline.
The growth comes despite a steep downturn in traffic through the Suez Canal, which saw revenues decline 54.1 percent to $2.6 billion between July 2024 and March, as ongoing Red Sea tensions triggered a 44.8 percent drop in ship transits.
The increase aligns with SCZONE’s objective to attract regional businesses by offering streamlined access to local markets and talent, along with value-driven industrial parks that support integrated supply chains.
In a statement posted on its official Facebook page, the Cabinet said the SCZONE chairman noted that “the authority’s promotional efforts contributed to achieving actual contracts for industrial, service, and logistics projects worth $7.09 billion for 286 projects, in addition to seaport projects worth $1.5 billion for 11 projects, for a total of $8.6 billion for 297 projects.”
SCZONE Chairman Walid Gamal El-Din, third from left, listens to Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, centre. Egypt Cabinet/Facebook
During the meeting, Gamal El-Din highlighted progress in two key industrial areas. In Ain Sokhna, the zone attracted foreign investment in sectors such as renewable energy, electronics, pharmaceuticals, automotive components, and metal manufacturing.
Meanwhile, the Qantara West zone saw the implementation of 31 projects spanning 2 million sq. meters, with a combined investment of $799 million, expected to generate 45,000 job opportunities.
Gamal El-Din also outlined how the authority aims to attract new projects in industrial and service sectors such as technology and semiconductors, electronics, engineering equipment and machinery, photovoltaic solar cells, vocational training centers, and silica sand mining and raw materials industries.
He added that the authority has already secured $43 million in foreign investment in silica mining and modern building materials.
As part of these efforts, the SCZONE chairman noted that a promotional tour across several Chinese provinces was conducted to attract new foreign direct investment. The visit included high-level meetings with major Chinese firms and culminated in the signing of six new industrial project contracts in the textile and garments sector, valued at a combined $117.5 million.
The deals represent a strategic step toward deepening economic ties with China and expanding Egypt’s manufacturing base, the statement added.
