07/02/2011
Saudi investors urge protection of businesses in Egypt
Saudi investors have $5 billion tied up on various projects and many own property in Egypt
Saudi investors said they are worried about their investments in Egypt amid the current state of unrest. They urged Egyptian authorities to protect those investments, estimated to be worth LE30 billion.
In a statement to the press in, the head of the Saudi-Egyptian Business Council Abdallah Dahlan whosaid the situation in Egypt is worrying for all Saudi and Arab businessmen, adding that Saudi businessmen have been investing in Egypt for more than 25 years. Saudi investors are not pulling out of Egypt, but are monitoring the political situation.
Adding that Saudi investors have $5 billion tied up on various projects and many own property in Egypt. The group has asked the Egyptian government to protect their interests, al-Masry al-Youm reported Thursday.
He denied that Saudi businessmen have withdrawnfrom the Egyptian market, adding that investors are only monitoring the situation.
He also said Saudi Arabia is the biggest investor in Egypt, with Saudi investments providing work for more than 100,000 Egyptian workers in different fields.
Dahlan called on the Egyptian people and the government to protect Saudi and foreign investments and asked the government for guarantees in this regard.
Egypt has a large Saudi community that exceeds 600,000 people who own real estate in Egypt. There are also more than one million Egyptians in Saudi Arabia, Dahlan said
However, NCB Capital investment firm said Egypt’s crisis is unlikely to hit the economies of Gulf oil producers while their crude output may not be impacted unless the Suez Canal is blocked.
“While it is convenient to consider all of the countries in the Middle East as similar entities, there are actually vast differences between them and in particular, we believe the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries stand apart both economically and from a stability standpoint,” it said. The report noted that oil prices surged given fears on production in the region.
“We see little chance of production being affected in the main producing countries on the instability of the surrounding countries.
