Well, the Arabian Peninsula is home to nearly 20 sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) that manage around $3.7 trillion—about a third of global state fund assets.
While the value of global sovereign wealth and public pension funds fell to approximately $1.2 trillion, Arab countries’ sovereign wealth got substantially bigger, thanks to high oil and gas prices.
The largest Middle Eastern fund is currently the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) with $790 billion in total assets, up about $100 billion year-over-year (y-o-y).
Next is the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) with $750 billion, up $12 billion y-o-y. In sixth position, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) went from $230 billion in 2018 to more than $600 billion today and plans on reaching $1 trillion by 2025.
Now let’s bring it home to Africa. In the last 10 years, the FDI inflow from Arab countries to African countries is $105 billion.
UAE investment – $60 billion
Saudi Arabia- $26 billion
Qatar – $8 billion
Kuwait – $6 billion
Bahrain- $5 billion
Egypt took the latest share of FDI from Arab countries in the last 10 years getting almost $60 billion of the $105 billion invested in Africa.
Nigeria (the largest economy in Africa) on the other hand got $2.6 billion. PBAT thinks it is not normal and there are a lot of opportunities to align with the Gulf countries and leverage the relationship.
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