Since oil exploitation shot the Gulf into the realms of interstellar wealth, money, oil and foreign relations have always gone hand in hand. Whether to secure long-term returns on their energy bonanza or for political considerations, Gulf Cooperation Council governments have been expanding their investment portfolio since the 1950s. Today, GCC sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) represent 37 percent of global SWF holdings, according to the United States-based SWF Institute. The International Monetary Fund pegged worldwide SWF assets at some $1.64 trillion by the end of March. The real estate sector takes a substantial chunk of SWFs’ overall portfolio, whether through direct investments in prime real estate in major world cities or by indirect investments in listed companies and unlisted property funds. However, since most SWFs do not publish their financial statements nor disclose where they invested, it is hard to find out how much of their fund goes into
