Egypt and Saudi Arabia plan joint real estate fund

• Egypt seeks Saudi investment
• 152 opportunities in Cairo
• Meetings set to discuss joint portfolio

Saudi Arabia and Egypt are planning to create a joint fund to carry out real estate projects in the two countries, an Egyptian official has revealed.

Egypt, which is locked in an IMF-recommended programme to stimulate its economy, also wants Saudi investors for new projects in central Cairo, in line with a plan to be announced later this year.

“We are working to set up a joint Egyptian-Saudi real estate fund,” said Abdul Khaliq Ibrahim, Egypt’s assistant housing minister, at an Egyptian-Saudi investment forum in Cairo at the weekend.

“There are also plans to organise meetings to discuss joint real estate portfolios.”

Nahid Yousef, the head of Egypt’s General Authority for Industrial Development, told the conference that 152 investment opportunities are available in Cairo and other areas of Egypt in the industrial sector, including renewables and auto parts.

Saudi Arabia is one of the largest foreign investors in Egypt. The country has sizeable amounts on deposit with the Egyptian central bank to support Egypt’s economy, which has been hit by high imports, persistent inflation and an unresolved system of subsidies. 

• First Saudi Arabia-to-Egypt subsea cable announced
• Saudi Arabia signs deals worth $15bn with Egypt
• Bolstering Egypt’s trade with Africa

In return, Cairo has ceded two uninhabited islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia, while Saudi investors have been linked to plans to develop Ras Gamila, an 860,000sq m area just north of Egypt’s resort city of Sharm El Sheikh.

Figures from the Cairo chamber of commerce showed two-way trade between the two countries stood at nearly $16 billion in 2024, an increase of almost 30 percent over the previous year.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia are also carrying out a project to link their power grids. Officials said last year that phase one of the plan would be ready in June this year.