KARACHI
The country received foreign direct investment (FDI) of $2.028 billion in July-May 2016-17, which was up by 22.6 per cent as compared to $1.654 billion in the same period last year.
In May 2017, the country received an amount of $294.7 million in the head of direct investment, while it received $321 million in total foreign investment, seeing an increase of 62.6 per cent compared to $120.5 million received in May 2016.
“Oil and Gas, Power sectors and Construction Industries supported total foreign investment of the country, which increased by 110.8 per cent to $2.644 billion in last eleven months of the current fiscal year compared with $1.254 billion in the same period last year”, the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) revealed on Wednesday.
During July-May 2016-17, the SBP has received an amount of $1.027 billion in Foreign Public Portfolio Investment (Debt securities), which saw an increase of $1.046 billion during July-May 2016-17 which was in (negative) $19.3 million in the same period last year, the data said.
In the portfolio investment (equity market), the country recorded an outflow of $411.3 million in last eleven months compared to a $390 million withdrawal in the same period of last year.
Out of this investment, the Chinese companies under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) invested an amount of $879 million in last eleven months, while a Netherland company Friesland Campina’s invested amount equaled $459.5 million in Engro Food in December 2016.
In the month of May 2017, the country received $294.7 million through direct investment. The country recorded inflows of $328 million compared to outflows of $33.2 million.
In May this year, the Chinese companies poured $160.5 million into their Pakistani projects.
Major investments the country received are from China ($879 m), France ($180.5 m), Hungary ($39.7 m), Italy ($51.9 m), Japan ($42 m), Netherlands ($465.5 m), UAE ($51.2 m), USA ($260.2 m) and Turkey ($134.7 m) in different sectors, meanwhile Saudi Arabia, Norway, Bahrain, and Germany pulled back their investment from Pakistan during last eleven months.
In May 2017, the country received the biggest investment of $160 million from China in development projects of CPEC, Norway made an investment of $74.9 million and Switzerland $10.9 million, Japan $3.2 million and UAE invested $3.5 million, the SBP’s data said.
Outflows of $23.4 million were recorded in portfolio investment (equity securities) in May 2017 despite increasing local stocks prices, but now the inflows may increase in equity market because of MSCI inclusion, the analyst said.
In July-May 2016-17, the foreign private investment in the country stood at $1.616 billion up by 27 per cent compared to $1.273 billion received in the same period last year.
The analyst said, “The country’s total foreign direct investment increased by 110.8 percent only because of Netherland’s company investment in the Engro Food and Chinese investment under CPEC projects,” the analyst claimed.
After touching the highest level of $24.6 billion, the forex reserves declined to $20.158 billion on last Thursday.
The stock market started declining from its peak this week and closed at 45,474 points after touching the highest level of 52.387 points in the first week on June this year. The MSCI upgraded Pakistan’s stocks in emerging markets from 1st June 2017, but after coming into the emerging market KSE-100 index is continuously sliding, another analyst claimed.
During last eleven months, Overseas Pakistani workers remitted $17.464 million in July to May of 2016-17 down by 2.17 per cent, compared with $17.844 million received during the same period in the preceding year.
During May 2017, the inflow of worker’s remittances amounted to $1.867 billion, which is 21.36 per cent higher than April 2017 and 3.77 per cent higher than May 2016.
