Foreign companies operating in different sectors of Pakistan's economy have continued to freely repatriate profits to their headquarters abroad, totalling a 39-month high profit of $272.5 million in a single month, October 2023.
October marks the second consecutive month in which they have continued to send profits with no restrictions from the government and the central bank, sending a strong signal to global investors to initiate new investment projects in Pakistan.
Cumulatively in the first four months (Jul-Oct) of the current fiscal year 2023-24, multinational companies (MNCs) have dispatched $485.4 million. This is significantly higher than the total repatriation of $331 million in the previous fiscal year 2022-23, according to the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday.
The central bank's data suggests the total repatriation in the fourth month was seven times (or 581%) higher compared to $71.3 million dispatched in the same fourth month of the last year.
Overseas Investors of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) President, Amir Paracha, acknowledged the resumption of profit repatriation by foreign companies from Pakistan in the wake of improvements in the supply of US dollars in the country in recent times.
He said the government's support to foreign companies in resuming sending profits to their headquarters abroad would support the country in attracting new foreign investment.
The resumption of repatriation has taken place as the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) is making efforts to attract investments in the agriculture, mining, and IT and telecom sectors, mainly from Middle Eastern countries.
Read: Ease restrictions on profit repatriation: OICCI
Pakistan has been attracting foreign investment mainly in financial, power, oil and gas, and telecommunication sectors. While these four sectors remain top dispatchers of profit from the country.
Multinational companies (MNCs) faced challenges in repatriating profits in the past one-and-a-half years.
The multinational companies have repatriated an average profit of $1.6 billion a year in the past 10 years. They notably sent a high of $2.3 billion in profit alone in 2018.
The latest central bank repatriation data suggests the MNCs have sent the monthly earned profit in addition to the profit withheld in the country in months of low foreign exchange reserves in Pakistan.
Pakistan has never officially announced or unannounced a ban on the repatriation of profits by MNCs in the past two-and-a-half decades. However, the recent depletion in foreign exchange reserves to a critically low level of less than a month has led concerned authorities to delay the dispatch to avoid default on foreign debt repayment.
Profit repatriation had remained low in the previous one-and-a-half years, ranging from $2 million to $60 million a month.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2023.
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