July-November: FDI clocks in at $422.8m

Amount 19.1% higher; November’s reading was only $20.6m


Our Correspondent December 17, 2014

KARACHI:


Pakistan received foreign direct investment (FDI) of $422.8 million in July-November, which is 19.1% higher than the FDI received during the same five-month period of the preceding fiscal year.


According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday, FDI increased by $68 million year-on-year in July-November, as it amounted to $354.8 million in the first five months of 2013-14.

FDI in November was only $20.6 million as opposed to the massive net flows of $254.3 million in the preceding month.

FDI in 2013-14 clocked up at $1.63 billion after increasing by 11.99% on an annual basis. The increase during the last fiscal year was mainly on the back of the auction of the telecom spectrum that fetched the government $610.9 million in May.

There was a net inflow of FDI amounting to $147.4 million from the telecommunications sector in July-November. In contrast, the same sector had registered a net outflow of $167.6 million of FDI during the same period of the last fiscal year. FDI in the telecommunications sector in November alone amounted to negative $2 million.



The largest increase in FDI in July-November was in the category of oil and gas exploration, which attracted $149.6 million. However, it was 23.2% less than the foreign investment received during the same months of the preceding fiscal year when it totalled $194.9 million.

Financial businesses attracted $25.7 million worth of FDI in July-November. However, it was down 61.2% from the corresponding five-month period of the preceding fiscal year.

Other sectors of the economy that received major FDI in July-November include chemicals ($46.7 million), tobacco and cigarettes ($33.3 million), power ($27.6 million), trade ($22.5 million), personal services ($13.2 million), textiles ($13 million), cars ($12 million) and beverages ($10.2 million).

Sectors of the economy that experienced a considerable net outflow of FDI in the first five months of the current fiscal year were pharmaceuticals (-$48.3 million), information technology ($31.9 million), metal products ($23.1 million) and cement (-$6.6 million).

As for foreign portfolio investment (FPI), which includes foreign public investment, Pakistan attracted $182.3 million during July-November, which is over 207% higher than the FPI worth $59.3 million received in the comparable months of 2013-14.

FPI in 2013-14 was $2.74 billion, up 21 times from $124.2 million received in the preceding fiscal year.

Countries that brought significant amounts of FDI into Pakistan in July-November include China ($121.5 million), United States ($116.2 million), United Arab Emirates ($74.9 million), Hong Kong ($72.1 million), United Kingdom ($57 million), Italy ($40.1 million), Austria ($20.2 million) and Japan ($17.6 million).

Countries that took out major investments out of Pakistan during the last five months are Saudi Arabia (-$53 million), Qatar (-$20.8 million) and Egypt (-$18.9 million).

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2014.

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