Hisham Ramez, the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), said today's sales of investment certificates issued for funding the new Suez Canal project hit EGP 8.5 billion.
Most of the buyers were individuals, he said.
On August 5, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi attended the inauguration of the waterway to be dug alongside the Suez Canal.
It is meant to add an extra lane to the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important thoroughfares for trade, in an attempt to increase the number of ships using it each day.
The Suez Canal, which allows ships to travel from Europe to Asia without passing through southern Africa, only provides for one-way traffic, with occasional room for ships to pass each other. The new lane would allow ships to travel in both directions at the same time.