Qatar to invest $3.5 billion in Egypt Mediterranean resort

A Qatari state owned real estate company will make a $3.5 billion cash investment inEgypt, according to people familiar with the matter, in the latest...

A Qatari state-owned real estate company will make a $3.5 billion cash investment in Egypt, according to people familiar with the matter, in the latest Gulf backing for the North African economy.

According to Bloomberg, Qatari Diar, a unit of the sovereign wealth fund, will announce the investment in a project on Egypt’s Mediterranean coastline on Thursday, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private matters.

The focus will be developing tourism sites, other real estate projects and golf courses, with the aim of attracting regional and international visitors, according to the people.

Qatari Diar has also committed to an in-kind investment of about $26 billion, they said, without giving a timeframe. The project will cover 7.2 kilometers (4.5 miles) in the Alam Al-Roum area of Egypt’s northern coastline.

It’s the latest in a string on big-ticket foreign investments in Egypt since early last year, when the United Arab Emirates and International Monetary Fund led a $57 billion bailout to help the Middle East’s most populous nation overcome its worst economic crisis in years.