Egypt-Gulf countries trade exchange hits $14B in 2024: El-Khatib
Updated 11/10/2025 3:26:00 AM
Arab Finance: The volume of trade between Egypt and the Gulf countries reached nearly $14 billion in 2024, compared to $9 billion in 2020, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Hassan El-Khatib noted.
On the sidelines of the Egyptian-Gulf Trade and Investment Forum, El-Khatib stated that the Gulf nations invested around $41 billion in Egypt during fiscal year (FY) 2023/2024, representing the country's largest share of foreign direct investment (FDI).
The Gulf participated in major projects, such as Ras al-Hikma with the UAE and Alam al-Rum with Qatar. This is beside the expansion of Saudi, Kuwaiti, and Bahraini investments in the industrial, energy, financial services, and real estate sectors.
Touching upon the state’s monetary policy, the minister revealed that the inflation rate declined from 33% in March 2024 to approximately 11.6% in June 2025.
Foreign reserves also increased to $50 billion, and net foreign assets turned into a surplus exceeding $10 billion.
As for trade policy, he said the government adopted a significant approach and implemented a package of reforms to reduce customs clearance time and costs by 65%, with a target of reaching 90% by the end of 2025. This would bring the average clearance time down to just two days.
He also noted that several non-tariff barriers were eliminated, saving the Egyptian economy more than $1.5 billion this year.
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