ISLAMABAD: Pakistan foreign reserves and foreign direct investment (FDI) dropped during last two months. FDI into Pakistan suffers blow in the first two months of the Fiscal Year 2018-19, while Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have declined further $300 million.
Ministry of Finance figures show FDI has been declined by 40 percent to $288 million in two months of this fiscal year. The foreign private investment declined by 40 percent to $288 million in the first two months of fiscal year 2018/2019 as compared with $481 million in the same months of the last fiscal year.
Portfolio investment in the equity market has also witnessed outflows during this period. The outflow of $130 million was recorded in two months as compared with outflow of $156 million last year.
On other hand, the country’s foreign exchange reserves stood around $16.070 billion, whereas, the central bank’s reserves declined $261 million to $9.624 billion. The foreign exchange reserves held by other banks have also dropped by $39 million to $6.446 billion.
Earlier, on September 6, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves had dropped to US$316 million during the week ended August 31 as against $16.685 billion in the preceding week. The official reserves of the central bank reduced by $341 million to $9.885 billion by week ended August 31 as against $10.226 billion in the preceding week. The official reserves of the SBP had declined on account of external payment.
