ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) soared to $423 million against $355 million in the previous year, showing a growth of 19 percent during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) report shows that the FDI had increased to $423 million in July-November fiscal year 15 against $355 million in the corresponding period of fiscal year 14, posting a surge of $68 million. Similarly the FDI inflows stood at $1.371 billion against the outflow of $948 million last year.
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Analysts said that despite business-friendly policies, political instability forced foreign investors to adopt wait and see policy for further/new investment in the country and most of the companies were investing only for working capital. They pointed out that current inflows of FDI were disappointing as Pakistan had a potential to attract some $4 to $5 billion FDI annually.
Similarly, following a better performance of equity market, portfolio investment also witnessed an upward trend and rose to $207 million during first five months of this fiscal year. Previously it stood in a negative position of $9.5 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal year. Month-on-month basis, FDI registered a 63 percent decline as it stood at $20.6 million in November 2014 compared to $57 million in November 2013. During November 2014, FDI inflows stood at $118 million while outflows $97.5 million.
