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Egypt and Qatar are close to signing a $4 billion investment deal, according to a senior government official.
The deal involves converting Qatar’s $4 billion deposits in the Egyptian central bank into investments in the Ras Alam El-Rum region, located on the country’s northwestern Red Sea coast, Fakhry Elfeki, Chairman of the Planning and Budget Committee in the Egyptian Parliament, told CNBC Arabia.
The proposed deal will be implemented through a usufruct agreement and will not involve a land sale, he said.
The project will span an area of around 240,000 square metres, the Arabic language site Asharq said in July and quoted two unidentified Egyptian government officials as saying Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the Gulf country’s sovereign wealth fund, will fund the project which includes resorts, luxury houses, shopping malls, yacht marina and other facilities.
This aligns with an intensified drive by Cairo to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to stimulate its economy and tackle debt and fiscal deficits.
Officials have said the target is to receive $42 billion FDI during the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which started on 1 July; an August Reuters report said that Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly discussed activating a $7.5 billion “partnership package” with his Qatari counterpart, in a cabinet statement.
Last month, Daily News Egypt reported that Hossam Heiba, CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), said Egypt ranked ninth globally and first in Africa among the world’s top investment destinations, attracting net inflows of $46.1 billion in the 2023/2024 fiscal year.
(Writing by P Deol; Editing by Sona Nambiar)
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