The revenues of Egypt’s Suez Canal declined to $448.8 million in September, from the $462.1 million in August, according to data released by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

The figure marks a 2.87 per cent decline ($13.3 million) in the waterway revenues in September, as the number of vessels crossing the canal slipped to 1,515, compared to 1,585 vessels at August-end, said The Cairo Post report.

The waterway is one of Egypt’s core sources of income, providing about 10 per cent of the nation’s hard currency, said the report.

In 2014, Suez Canal revenues registered $5.456 billion, marking 6.75 per cent growth compared to $5.111 billion a year earlier.

In August, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi inaugurated the multi-billion dollar project of the ‘New Suez Canal’ a year after its launch.

Egypt hopes the expansion project which provided a new 72-kilometer canal parallel to the old one to speed up transit time, would bolster the country’s limping economy and boost annual revenue up to $13.5 billion by 2023, added the report.