Red Sea debt-reduction land is for investment, not necessarily sale, ministry says
The ministry listed three routes: usufruct rights, projects with private partners, and swapping part of the investments against state debts. Red Sea sources put the plot between Ras Ghareb and Zafarana.
13 November 2026
Egypt's finance ministry says the state land in the Red Sea that has been allocated to it to help cut public debt will be put to investment and economic partnerships rather than necessarily being sold.
In a statement reported on Friday, the ministry named three routes: offering the land under usufruct rights, setting up investment projects with private-sector partners, and swapping part of those investments against debts the state owes. Returns from the projects would go to reducing government debt and covering debt service.
The latest presidential decree covers about 26,690 feddan, roughly 112.1 million square metres, and was published in the Official Gazette earlier this week. Sources in the Red Sea told El-Mostaqbal that the area lies between Ras Ghareb and Zafarana, with about 15 kilometres of frontage on the Gulf of Suez.
It is not the first allocation of its kind. A decree in 2025 set aside about 41,515 feddan of Red Sea state land for the same purpose, and the 26,690 feddan were added this year.
Al-Masry Al-Youm's front page on Friday quoted a government source saying the debt-reduction land will not be sold. According to that account, an investor seeking usufruct or wanting to invest would receive sukuk from the finance ministry, and the proceeds pass to the state to repay debt, leaving ownership of the land with the state.
The ministry said its debt strategy brought government debt down from 96% to 81.9% of gross domestic product over three years, and that the added fiscal room is meant to allow more spending on health, education and social protection. It did not say when any land would be offered.