Gold is the investment to own when the world is concerned with...

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.