–Total foreign investment decreased by 1.4% to $ 534.1m
KARACHI: During the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the country received an amount of Rs 661.9 million in the head of foreign direct investment (FDI), up by 56.3 per cent or $ 238.5 million compared to $ 423.4 million in the same period last year. Out of $ 661.9 million of the total direct investment, Chinese investment stood at $ 429.8 million in last three months.
In September 2017, the country has received $ 204.8 million as direct investment, while investors pulled back their investment worth $ 61.7 million in the same period, the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said here Wednesday.
Foreign private investment stood at $ 583.7 million up by 29.5 per cent in last three months compared to $ 450.9 million in the same period last year.
During August 2017, the SBP has recorded outflows of an amount of $ 49.6 million in the head of Foreign Public Portfolio Investment (Debt Securities), which further decreased by 154.7 per cent during July-Sept 2017 which was in plus at $ 90.8 million in the same period last year, the data said.
In portfolio investment (Equity Market), the country recorded an outflow of $ 78.2 million in July-Sept this year compared with an inflow of $ 27.5 million in July-Sept 2016.
Out of this investment, the Chinese companies under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) invested an amount of $ 429.8 million in July-Sept 2017, while Malaysia invested $ 110.9 million and UAE invested $ 22.1 million in Pakistan.
Major investment the country received are from USA ($ 22.4m), United Kingdom ($ 12.2 m), Japan ($ 13.3 m), Italy ($ 10.6m), Hungary ($ 22.6 m), and France ($ 28.5 m) in different sectors, meanwhile Norway, Kuwait and Finland pulled back their investment from Pakistan during July-Sept 2017.
The country recorded inflows of the direct investment of $ 772.4 million compared with an outflow of $ 110.4 million in July-Sept this year.
In September 2017, the country received major investment in the power sector of $ 57.4 million, oil and gas exploration that received $ 18.1 million and $ 68 million in the construction industry, the SBP’s data said.
The analyst said, “Total direct investment has surged as the Chinese companies are pouring their investment in projects during last three months. Otherwise, the foreign investment is next to nothing,” he added.
Pakistan has received an amount of $ 2.157 billion in the last fiscal year (2016-17) compared to $ 1.976 billion in 2015-16.
After touching the highest level of $ 24.6 billion, the forex reserves declined to below $ 20 billion on last Thursday. The stock market had almost lost 12,000 points from its peak at 43,000 points after touching the highest level of 52,387 points in the first week on June this year.
