July-january: Foreign investment falls 64%

KARACHI:

Foreign investment in Pakistan fell 63.9 per cent to $446.2 million in the first seven months of 2011-12 fiscal year because of a decrease in foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment, the central bank said on Wednesday.

Foreign investment totalled $1.24 billion in the same period last fiscal year.

Foreign direct investment fell 40.7 per cent to $593.9 million in the July-January period of 2011-12, from $1 billion in the same period last fiscal year, the State Bank of Pakistan said.

The country’s unstable security situation and chronic power shortages have put off long-term investors, analysts say.

Foreign portfolio investment fell 162.9 per cent with outflows of $147.7 million in seven months of 2011-12, compared with inflows of $234.8 million in the same period last year.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2012.