Egypt’s Suez Canal revenues continued to decline in 2015, leading to a year-on-year contraction of 5.3 per cent, according to a statement by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

The waterway’s revenues dropped to $5.2bn, down from $5.5bn in 2014, SCA CEO Mohab Mamish said in a statement on 13 January.

Mamish attributed the fall to a steep decline in hydrocarbons prices since the end of 2014. “The petroleum decline caused a parallel drop in the surplus accomplished by the canal,” he said.

In 2015, 17,483 ships passed through the Suez Canal, up from 17,148 in 2014, according to Mamish.

The waterway’s performance is linked with a slowing down of global trade, despite the opening of the New Suez Canal in August 2015. The SCA has forecast revenues to reach $13.3bn by 2023, although international ratings agencies have said global trade would need to increase by 10 per cent a year for this to be achievable.

The Switzerland-headquartered World Trade Organisation (WTO) has lowered its forecast for world trade growth in 2015 to 2.8 per cent, down from its projection of 3.3 per cent made last April, and reduced its estimate for 2016 to 3.9 per cent from 4 per cent.

In August, Egypt opened the $8.2bn Suez canal expansion, which was completed within a year and within budget. A new 72-kilometre-long waterway will enable two-way traffic and double the current daily ship capacity. The Suez Canal is an important source of scarce foreign currency for Egypt.