10MFY14: FDI falls 12.9%, data reveals

Amounts to $750.9 million, April’s figures substantially low.

KARACHI:

Pakistan received foreign direct investment (FDI) of $750.9 million in the first 10 months of 2013-14, which is 12.9% less than the amount that the country received in the corresponding 10-month period of the preceding fiscal year, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

The negative growth rate on a year-on-year basis is due to the substantial drop in FDI recorded in the last month. FDI remained $81.1 million in April, which is 64.9% less than $231.3 million recorded in the same month of the preceding fiscal year.

FDI in the first half of the current fiscal year was $416.1 million, which was 26.8% lower than the amount the country received in the corresponding six months of the preceding fiscal year. Pakistan received FDI worth over $1.4 billion in 2012-13.

The oil and gas sector attracted the highest amount of FDI in the July-April period. It attracted a net foreign investment of $394 million. However, it was 15.6% lower than the investment of $467.1 million the sector received in the corresponding 10-month period in the preceding fiscal year.

Sectors of the economy that received major FDI during the last 10 months include financial businesses ($130.8 million), chemicals ($81.9 million), tobacco and cigarettes ($40.5 million), food ($82.3 million) and beverages ($23.4 million).

In contrast, a major dip in FDI was registered in the telecommunications sector, where the net outflow of investment remained $140.8 million during the period under review. Other sectors that witnessed a considerable net outflow of FDI in July-April were petroleum refining ($14.6 million), electrical machinery ($10.8 million), trade ($10.4 million) and transport ($6.5 million).

As for foreign portfolio investment (FPI), which includes foreign public investment, Pakistan attracted $2.2 billion during the July-April period, up 437.2% from $414.7 million in the comparable 10 months of the last fiscal year.

Countries that brought significant amounts of FDI into Pakistan during the period under review include Switzerland ($193.4 million), United States ($185.5 million), Hong Kong ($199 million), United Kingdom ($93.9 million), Italy ($56.9 million), France ($59.3 million), Austria ($57.4 million) and Oman ($35.4 million).

Countries that took out major investments out of Pakistan in the last 10 months are Norway ($32.9 million), Qatar ($48.7 million), Saudi Arabia ($38.2 million) and Singapore ($38.5 million).

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2014.

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