Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund swung into the black in 2023, recording revenues of SR 331 billion ($88.3 billion) and more than doubling earnings growth from 2022, according to an audit by KPMG.

The fund is also nearing the trillion-dollar mark in assets under management, surging 28% to $986 billion last year.

The PIF, the most active state-backed investor in the world, has been fueled by surging public equities; the receipt of a transfer of 4% of Aramco shares; a turnaround in fortunes at Softbank, which in previous years has been the source of losses; and a flurry of acquisitions including in technology and energy diversification.

The fund recorded a profit of SR 64 billion ($17 billion) compared to a loss of SR 17 billion ($4.5 billion) in the previous year.

The national purse is the foundation of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s Vision 2030 economic diversification strategy, relied upon to drive tens of billions of dollars in investments to develop nascent sectors like tourism, technology and manufacturing in the kingdom. 

Egypt emerged from its weekend huddle with the European Union holding signed agreements for billions of dollars in business deals ranging from construction projects to renewable energy.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the Egypt-EU Investment Conference outside Cairo on Saturday that deals potentially worth over 40 billion euros ($43 billion) were being negotiated with Egyptian partners.

Among them were agreements on four green ammonia projects including an $11 billion deal with Frankfurt-based DAI Infrastruktur.

The Sovereign Fund of Egypt also signed a deal with BP, UAE’s Masdar, Egyptian infrastructure company Hassan Allam Utilities and Infinity Power to invest in a green ammonia plant in Ain Sukhna Port on the western coast of the Gulf of Suez.

EU officials said they would move ahead with plans to invest up to 1 billion euros  in the Egyptian economy, the first tranche of a 7.4 billion-euro European aid package agreed upon in March.  

From Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea resorts to Dubai’s neighborhood mosques, the season’s searing temperatures are forcing nations across the Middle East to reevaluate the impact climate change could have on their people and economies.

Following the deaths of more than 1,300 pilgrims who made the hajj this month to Mecca, authorities across the region are taking steps to protect worshippers from heat that often exceeds 50 Celsius (122 F).

In the UAE, mosques have been instructed to limit their Friday sermons and prayers to no more than 10 minutes because of the scorching sun.

The New York Times published a story on Thursday suggesting that global warming could undermine some of the ambitious tourism, sports and industrial projects now underway across the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia’s Neom mega-development and the string of luxury hotels under construction on the shores of the Red Sea.

In North Africa, the unrelenting dry weather has depressed harvests of fruit for export while requiring Morocco to spend record sums on wheat imports, Bloomberg reports.

Saudi Arabia is offering 90-day e-visas to Esports World Cup ticket holders as it gears up to host the debut competition that aims to put the kingdom on the international gaming map.

Boulevard Riyadh City is the venue where more than 2,500 players will compete for a $60 million prize pool, the largest in esports history, from July 4 to Aug. 25.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, himself a “Call of Duty” fan, has earmarked $38 billion from the Public Investment Fund – with the aim of attracting 250 gaming companies and studios to set up shop in the country while creating 39,000 video game-related jobs.

The homegrown strategy builds on the kingdom’s credentials in the e-arena with investments in the biggest players like Tencent, Nintendo, Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft.

In March, Saudi Arabia’s National Development Fund and the Social Development Bank announced the establishment of two venture capital funds with a combined value of $120 million to back new esports companies in the kingdom.

Buttressed by more than $42 billion in property deals and loans since February, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will be pulling out all the stops this weekend when he hosts a business summit catering to European leaders and investors.

At the peak of Egypt’s two-year financial crisis, trade with member-states of the European Union in 2023 slid 19% from the previous year – a benchmark El-Sisi will seek to reverse during the two-day Egypt-EU Investment Conference that starts on Saturday. As exports to Europe plunged almost 32% last year, Italy, Spain and Greece were the top European importers of Egyptian goods.

Joining the Egyptian President, cabinet members and Cairo business leaders at the Al Manara International Conference Centre will be European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, along with government officials and investors from across the continent.

Egypt, coaxed by the International Monetary Fund, has embarked on a path of economic reform that includes divestment of billions in government assets and devaluation of the pound while implementing a fixed exchange rate. In turn the IMF and World Bank are arranging $8.7 billion in loans to help put the economy on course.

A breakthrough $35 billion property deal captured the attention of world investors in February as Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ led a group that bought development rights to Egypt’s Mediterranean coastal headland of Ras El-Hekma – soon to be dotted with luxury beach resorts.

As Dubai’s stratospheric real estate market scales ever higher, property buyers are getting help from new tools that use artificial intelligence to evaluate prices.

In collaboration with the Dubai Land Department, UAE property portal Bayut is launching TruEstimate, an AI-powered application that seeks to deliver an objective price tag derived from publicly available real estate data.

The estimates take into account recent sales of similar properties, current market trends, and property features.

“In a market characterized by constant change, having a better understanding of home values is essential,” Arabian Business quoted Buyut CEO Haider Ali Khan as saying.

The launch of TruEstimate comes as Dubai’s real estate sector experiences unprecedented growth, with property transactions in the emirate reaching AED 200 billion ($54.5 billion) in the past six months.

Saudi Arabia’s quest for lithium to power its nascent electric vehicle industry is leading to stronger links with South America, as evidenced by the Future Investment Initiative’s conference in Brazil earlier this month.

Saudi-owned Almar Water Solutions is now looking to form a partnership with Chile’s state mining giant Codelco in its planned Maricunga lithium mining project, Reuters reports.

Almar’s CEO Carlos Cosin told the news agency that the Spain-based firm, which focuses on water solutions for renewable energy production, wants to leverage its technology in the extraction of battery-metal lithium, a water-intensive process.

As part of a Saudi conglomerate, Cousin said Almar would be able to bring in another strong financial partner if included in a consortium to develop the Maricunga salt flat.

The company’s technology can be used in metal separation in the microelectronics industry, direct lithium extraction and battery recycling, he said.

Saudi Arabia is on track to become the world’s largest construction market as the kingdom pours billions of dollars into new urban hubs and tourism destinations underpinning its economic diversification strategy, according to Knight Frank.

Since Vision 2030 was laid out eight years ago, the country has announced projects worth more than $1.25 trillion spanning residential properties in the capital Riyadh to far-flung mega-projects like Neom, the real estate consultancy group found.

The total construction output value is forecast to reach $181.5 billion by the end of 2028, up almost 30% from 2023 levels, the London-based firm said in a report published Monday.

The construction boom is down to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s mandate to transition the oil-dependent economy to become a magnet for skilled workers and foreign tourists.

“We are currently witnessing a historical transformation unfolding in Saudi Arabia with construction projects standing out in their design scale and value,” said Mohamed Nabil, regional partner and head of project and development services for the Middle East and North Africa at Knight Frank.