Egypt seeking investment on southern Red Sea coast

Image credit: KHALED DESOUKI/ Getty Images

Egypt is advancing plans to develop the Ras Banas area of remote coastline on the Red Sea with an eye to attracting large-scale investments, according to comments by the housing minister and a finance ministry source.

The Ras Banas area, a 30 km peninsula across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia in the far south of Egypt, is one of few parts of the North African country’s coastline that has not been developed for tourism.

Egypt has been seeking large-scale investments as it tries to overcome a long-running economic crisis that led to record inflation, a rising debt burden and sharp currency devaluations over the past two years.

The $24bn sale to a UAE sovereign fund of rights to develop the Ras El Hekma peninsula on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast earlier this year triggered speculation about follow-up deals involving Gulf investors.

Egyptian media quoted Housing Minister Sherif el-Sherbiny as saying on Saturday that a strategic and investment blueprint for Ras Banas was nearing completion and that it would soon be presented to potential investors.

A finance ministry source confirmed that Egypt was seeking to attract investment in Ras Banas and indicated that Saudi Arabia could be an investor. The source added that there had been months of discussion about converting Saudi deposits at the Egyptian central bank into direct investments.

Egypt has been seeking large-scale investments as it tries to overcome a long-running economic crisis that led to record inflation, a rising debt burden and sharp currency devaluations over the past two years.

A loss of Suez Canal revenues due to attacks on Red Sea shipping by Yemen’s Houthi movement accentuated a chronic foreign currency shortage before Egypt signed the Ras El Hekma deal with Abu Dhabi’s ADQ and secured billions in funding from international lenders.

The deal with ADQ was worth a total of $35 billion and included the conversion of $11 billion in dollar deposits at Egypt’s central bank.

Saudi Arabia has $5.3bn in medium to long-term deposits at Egypt’s central bank, according to the apex lender’s data. It also deposited $5bn in short-terms deposits in 2022 which are believed have been rolled over since then.

On Monday, Egypt’s cabinet said the Saudi Public Investment Fund would make $5bn in investments in Egypt following a meeting between the Egyptian prime minister and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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