Big Qatari investments incoming? Qatar will invest USD 1.5 bn into industrial projects in Egypt in 2024, a senior figure at the Egyptian Trade Ministry, Yahya Al Wathiq Billah, said in an interview with Asharq Business. The official did not specify any projects or companies that the funds are earmarked for or when we could expect to hear more details.

We’ve been expecting Qatar to invest some USD 5 bn since last year: Qatar pledged back in March 2022 to deploy some USD 5 bn here “in the coming period,” but has yet to commit to significant investments since then.

What’s behind the delay? The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has been seeking majority stakes in a number of potential acquisitions, while the Sovereign Fund of Egypt has had a preference for the sale of minority stakes. And Qatari firms, like other prospective foreign investors, have been given pause by the overhang presented by the discrepancy between the formal and parallel market prices of the USD. Nobody wants to make an investment on day one and then have to mark it down a few days later because we float the EGP.

Still, Qatar has not shied away from Egypt: Qatari dairy producer Baladna increased its stake in EGX-listed Juhayna to 15% over the summer, while Qatar Energy purchased a 40% working interest in an Exxon–owned exploration block in the Mediterranean last year. Trade volumes between Qatar and Egypt rose 47% in 2022, according Billah.

DATA POINT: Qatar has invested over USD 5.5 bn in Egypt to date, with significant investments in our finance, real estate, and energy sectors, Qatari Trade Minister Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari told Asharq Business yesterday at the Egyptian-Qatari Economic Investment Forum.

QATARI PRIVATE SECTOR LOOKING-

Al Mana Group wants in on our automotive industry: Qatar’s Al-Mana Group plans to invest more than USD 60 min in Egypt in 2024, most of which will be used in the funding of a new automotive assembly plant, Asharq Business quotes Chairman and CEO Saud Al Mana as saying on the sidelines of the Egyptian-Qatari Investment Forum on Tuesday. While the Qatari group has yet to decide on the automotive brand it intends to set up the plant with, Al-Mana said it will likely be a Chinese brand for the local market and be assembled in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), Asharq quoted him as saying.

More Qatari-Egyptian partnerships in the works: Egyptian and Qatari companies also signed a number of unspecified MoUs at the forum, according to a Trade Ministry statement.

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