Egyptian billionaire 30% IN GOLD

Gold is the investment to own when the world is concerned with rising prices, said Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris.

"The world is worried about inflation. This is a cycle we had seen before," Orascom Investment Holding chairman and CEO Naguib Sawiris told CNBC.

Egypt's second-richest man advises allocating up to 30% of a portfolio to gold. "You need to have part of a portfolio invested in gold. I say 20% to 30%. I used to be at 50%. It is something that is fundamental," he said.

Gold should benefit from inflation, but it is a delicate balance between rising prices and rising inters rates, Sawiris explained, adding that rising rates "eat up" gold's gains.

"The problem is rising interest rates. Gold is a function between inflation and rising interest rates," he said. "I am a long-term investor. Let's say inflation comes in, and there is a crash in the stock market. You'll be very happy that you have a position in gold."

A stock market crash could happen at any point in time, and it is good to be prepared, Sawiris noted.

"The stock market has been at the highest range for a very long time now. At some point, [the crash] should happen. There are also a lot of political instabilities in the world. They could blow up. Corona is still a never-ending saga. There is a lot of uncertainty. I want to go to sleep at night and not be affected by the stock market or the pandemic."

Last month, Sawiris set up a $1.4 billion gold mining fund. The goal of the fund is to hold the billionaire's gold mining investments as well as provide capital for new opportunities in the sector.

"Creating a fund is the natural consequence of what we have been doing since we vended-in our operational assets into Evolution and Endeavour in 2015," La Mancha's board chairman Sawiris said in the statement. "Transitioning to a fund structure and welcoming new investors is timely when we are seeing opportunities in a gold mining sector which is fragmented and needs further consolidation."

Sawiris' comments come after gold's flash crash early Monday, which was triggered by Friday's better-than-expected U.S. jobs report and a lack of liquidity in the space.

At the time of writing, spot gold was down nearly 9% since the start of the year after peaking at new record highs of above $2,050 in August of last year. December Comex gold futures were last trading at $1,728.60, up 0.12% on the day.