Investment flows from Gulf Arab nations into Egypt jumped to about $41bn in the 2023/2024 fiscal year, making up the largest share of foreign direct investment, Egyptian Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Hassan El Khatib said on Monday. Speaking at the opening of the Egypt-Gulf Trade and Investment Forum in Cairo, El Khatib said the economic relations between Egypt and the Gulf have become a model of partnership based on trust and a shared vision. He noted that the volume of trade between Egypt and Gulf countries reached nearly $14bn in 2024, up from $9bn in 2020.Major projects like Ras El Hekma with the UAE and Alam El Rum with Qatar, alongside expanding investments from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain, reflect an ambitious shared vision for an integrated Arab investment model, he said. "The Egyptian state has adopted stable, transparent, and long-term economic policies that help investors make their decisions with confidence," El Khatib told the forum, which was also attended by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and several Gulf officials. He outlined the results of these policies over the past year. In monetary policy, efforts to reduce inflation and restore discipline led to a drop in the inflation rate to about 11.6% in June 2025 from 33% in March 2024, while foreign reserves rose to $50bn and net foreign assets turned to a surplus of over $10bn. In fiscal policy, he said improving collection efficiency and expanding the tax base led to a 35% increase in tax revenues without imposing new burdens. In trade policy, reforms helped reduce the time and cost of customs clearance by 65%, saving the economy more than $1.5bn this year. As a result, the state is targeting its lowest trade deficit in ten years. El Khatib said Egypt is now preparing for a new phase of institutional development aimed at full digital transformation of government and investment services through unified business platforms. "Egypt today enjoys a competitive production cost, a huge human base of more than 31 million workers, engineers, and technicians, advanced infrastructure, and a unique strategic location, making it an ideal hub for localising Gulf and Arab industries," he said, adding that the state aims to establish joint Egyptian-Gulf industries to serve the entire region.
