Suez Canal Photo: IC

The revenues from Egypt's Suez Canal reached 497.1 million U.S. dollars in January, up 6.1 percent year on year, authorities said on Monday.

"The revenues in January rose by 6.1 percent to reach 497.1 U.S. million dollars up from 468.7 million dollars," said Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority.

Some 1,645 ships crossed the Suez Canal in January, compared to 1,516 ships during the same month in the past year, recording an increase of 8.5 percent in ship traffic, he added.

The Suez Canal is one of Egypt's main sources of national income and foreign currency reserves, besides tourism and foreign investment that have been suffering decline over the past few years.

Some 12 percent of the world trade volume passes through the Suez Canal which is considered the most important and fastest navigation passage connecting Africa, Asia and Europe by bridging the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

The canal's revenues reached 6.2 billion U.S. dollars for the fiscal year 2018-2019 compared to 4.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2016-2017 with 40.4 percent increase, according to official statistics.