KARACHI: Foreign investment has further fell by 26.6 per cent to stand at $169 million during July to September of ongoing financial year, dropping the size of investment to the lowest level in the last 10 years.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan data, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) remained $169.6 million in the first quarter FY15 as compared to $231 million received in the corresponding period of fiscal year 2014, depicting a fall of $61.6 billion. The FDI inflows were $417 million against the outflow of $248 million during the period under review.
However, portfolio investment witnessed an upward trend and rose by 362 per cent or $140 million from July to September this year and reached $178.5 million as compared to the last year’s $38.7 million.
Even foreign investment from friendly counties like Saudi Arabia and China, witnessed negative trend as these countries withdrew $3.9 million and $14.6m, respectively, during the first quarter of FY15. The size of FDI is negligible if compared with regional countries like India, China and Bangladesh.
Most of investment came from European countries, US and Hong Kong. The highest amount of $43m was invested by Hong Kong, more than 25pc of the total investment of $169m. Other significant investments, like $41.5m and $36.6m, came from the US and UK, respectively. Other European countries, like Switzerland, Italy and France, also invested in Pakistan.
Experts say that the prolonged sit-ins by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek Tahir-ul-Qadri in the federal capital, Islamabad, also causing low investment in the country.
