Suez Canal revenues fell by 1.1 percent during October to reach US$443 million, while railway revenues increased between January and October 2012 by 14.8 percent to reach LE849.8 million, the Economic Indicators Bulletin said.
The bulletin, issued by the Cabinet’s Information Center on Thursday, noted that total deposits in the banking system increased by 6.5 percent in August 2012 to reach LE1 trillion.
The number of employees appointed in both the private and investment sectors dropped by 72 percent in October 2012 compared to the same month in 2011, according to the bulletin, while employment opportunities provided by the Local Development Fund went down by 29.5 percent.
The decline in jobs was not limited to the local market, but extended to jobs overseas, including those advertised in national newspapers, with a decline of 29.9 percent.
The rate of goods transported by sea during September also dropped by 1.9 percent, bringing the total transferred goods to about 9 million tons, while the amount of goods transported by air declined 7 percent to 22.4 thousand tons.
Nearly 3 million people traveled by air in September, an increase of 1.6 percent.
Iron production increased by 19.8 percent during October 2012, reaching 635,000 tons, with sales rising by 28.4 percent to 595,000 tons, while the average price of iron declined by 14.7 percent to LE4,227 per ton.
Cement production decreased by 10 percent to 4.3 million tons in October, while its average price rose by 1.5 percent to LE547.5 per ton.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
