Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country declined 12.27 per cent or $27 million in January 2021 as compared to the same month of 2020.
According to data released b the latest State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan fetched FDI amounting to $192.7 million in January 2021 as compared to net inflow of $219.6 million investment in Jan 2020.
On a cumulative basis, FDI dropped 27.4 per cent during the first seven months (July-Jan) of the current fiscal year when compared with the corresponding period of last year. FDI clocked in at $1,145.3 million during July-Jan FY21 compared to $1,577 million in July-Jan FY20, depicting a decline of $431.7 million.
A major chunk of the recent foreign investment came from China, which remained the largest investor with over 35pc share in overall FDI. China’s net FDI stood $402.8 million during July-Jan FY21.
Netherlands was the second largest investing country with a net FDI of $122 million while Hong Kong was ranked third with an investment of $105.2 million into Pakistan during July-Jan FY21.
The power sector attracted most investments, amounting to $450.4 million, followed by financial business sector $181.3 million and oil & gas exploration sector $136.7 million.
During the period under review, total foreign investment in Pakistan, comprising foreign direct investment, portfolio investment and foreign public investment, declined 78pc or $2.68 billion to $755 million in Jul-Jan 2021.
It may be noted that Pakistan in FY20 had managed to improve its track record as it received $2.561 billion FDI compared to $1.362 billion in the preceding year. However, the pandemic drastically impacted global economies suppressing any chance for Pakistan to attract huge amounts of foreign investment.
