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Saudi Arabia Signs 100 Investment Deals Worth $4Bn during Q1

Investments increase in Saudi Arabia amid foreigners' interest in the market (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Investments increase in Saudi Arabia amid foreigners' interest in the market (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Signs 100 Investment Deals Worth $4Bn during Q1

Investments increase in Saudi Arabia amid foreigners' interest in the market (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Investments increase in Saudi Arabia amid foreigners' interest in the market (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia has signed 101 investment deals during the first quarter of this year, amounting to $4 billion.

Supervised by the Ministry of Investment, the deals are expected to provide more than 5,000 new job opportunities.

The Kingdom is the sixth among the G20 economies with the highest foreign exchange reserve.

A recent report issued by the Ministry, a copy of which was obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat, said the Kingdom has one of the fastest recovering economies from the effects of the pandemic, with a 9.6 percent growth in gross domestic product during the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same quarter of 2021.

The report indicated that the Kingdom provided opportunities for investors, making it easier to access untapped sectors by providing an attractive investment environment.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Saudi Arabia grew by 257.2 percent to reach $19.3 billion in 2021.

The Kingdom's industrial production index (IPI) continued to rise for the eleventh consecutive month, with a 24.8 percent increase in March, compared to 2021, the highest growth in the past three years.

The report indicated that the IPI increase was primarily driven by a 26.6 percent increase in mining activity after the Kingdom increased its oil production to more than 10 million barrels per day in March.

Foreign exchange reserves maintained their strength during Q1, reaching $45.7 billion in April, making Saudi Arabia the sixth-highest foreign exchange reserves among G20 economies.

The interest of foreign investors in the Kingdom rose to historical levels in the first quarter, with 9,383 new licenses.

This significant increase is due to the Kingdom's efforts to improve the investment environment and increase investor confidence after the global economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 era.

The number of companies that decided to open their regional headquarters in Riyadh has increased, and several small foreign-owned enterprises and institutions want to regulate their commercial status within the anti-concealment law in the Kingdom.

The Ministry of Investment added that after revoking the company licenses that regulated their status, it issued 1.2 thousand investment licenses in the first quarter of this year, a 153.7 percent growth compared to the same period in 2021.

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Egypt’s Net Foreign Assets Rise in February

Hotels, banks and offices on the Nile River in Cairo (Reuters)
Hotels, banks and offices on the Nile River in Cairo (Reuters)
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Egypt’s Net Foreign Assets Rise in February

Hotels, banks and offices on the Nile River in Cairo (Reuters)
Hotels, banks and offices on the Nile River in Cairo (Reuters)

Egypt’s net foreign assets (NFAs) increased by $1.48 billion in February, marking the second monthly rise this year following consecutive declines in the final three months of 2024, according to data released by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

Based on official exchange rates provided by the CBE, calculations by Reuters showed that net foreign assets rose to the equivalent of $10.18 billion at the end of February, up from $8.70 billion in January.
A banking source attributed the increase to growing foreign investor purchases of Egyptian treasury bills. January also saw an uptick in foreign assets after the government issued $2 billion in international bonds—the country’s first dollar-denominated bond sale in four years.

Further growth in foreign assets is expected in March after the International Monetary Fund approved a $1.2 billion disbursement to Egypt, following the fourth review of its $8 billion economic reform program signed in March 2024. Last month’s IMF approval also unlocked an additional $1.3 billion under the Fund’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility.

Following Egypt’s fourth currency devaluation in March 2024, the overall net foreign asset position of Egyptian banks swung into surplus by about $14.29 billion in May—the first surplus in nearly 28 months. This turnaround came after the deficit had ballooned to nearly $29 billion by the end of January, just before the central bank’s latest reform measures.

However, the net foreign position of commercial banks alone (excluding the central bank) turned negative again in August due to renewed demand pressures for US dollars, just three months after the broader recovery.

In February, both the central bank and commercial banks recorded an increase in foreign assets. While the CBE’s foreign liabilities also grew during the month, those of commercial banks declined.