Business

Troubled economy: Violence drives Jul-Aug FDI down 76.9%

Decline in direct and portfolio investments the main reason.

Reuters September 16, 2011 Less than a minute read

KARACHI: Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Pakistan fell 76.9 % in the first two months of the 2011/12 fiscal year (June- July) to $65.2 million due to a decrease in both direct and portfolio investment, the central bank said on Friday.

Investments totalled $282.5 million in the first two months of 2010/11 fiscal year.

Long-term investors were further put off Pakistan’s deeply troubled economy when the start of the country’s new financial year was marred by terrorism and chronic power shortages, analysts say.

FDI fell 39.9 % in July-August 2011 to $112.4 million from $186.9 million in the same period last year, the State Bank of Pakistan said.

Foreign portfolio investment fell 149.3 % with outflows of $47.1 million in the first two months of the fiscal year 2011/12, compared with inflows of $95.6 million in the same period last year.

At least 400 people were killed in July and August in violence in the country’s main commercial hub.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2011.