Country’s direct investment dips by 46.4% to $600.7m in July-Oct 2018

*Total foreign investment declines by 67.3% to $331.3m

KARACHI:  The country’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) dipped by 46.4 per cent ($519.2 m) in July-October 2018-19 and stood at $600.7 million compared to $1.119 billion in same period last year, while total investment stood at $331.3 million after declining 67.3 per cent during the same period.

In October 2018, the country had received $161.2 million only in the head of direct investment compared to $354.6 million in the same month last year.

Investment from China $334.9 million, which is almost half of the total investment the country received in last four months.

Total inflows of foreign direct investment of $844.8 million were received in July-October period, while investors pulled back their $244.2 million, the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said here Wednesday.

“The government is waiting for the financial support given by Saudi Arabia which expected to receive in couple of days,” the analyst said. The overall situation of the economy is little better as Saudi Arabia and China has assured for the support of Pakistan’s economy, he claimed. Finance Minister Asad Umer has also claimed, “Pakistan is out of the financial payment crisis.”

After some improvement in the economy, the stock market gained over 2000-3000 points in last couple of week and KSE-100 index touched 40,994 points.” People are still waiting for the policies of new government of Imran Khan who took charge in August, the analyst claimed.

The analyst further claimed that Foreign Investment (FI) of the country will start rising from November this year. The government is also negotiating to get $6-$8 billion with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) team, which is on the visit to Pakistan.

The market analysts further said that federal government has raised the gas charges and the regulatory duty on the import of 570 products, which will further hamper the country’s growth.

Foreign private investment of the country stood at $331.1 million down by 68.8 per cent during July-October compared to $1.062 billion in the same period last year.

During July-October 2018-19, the SBP has recorded outflows of an amount of $269.5 million in the head Portfolio investment (Equity Securities), down by 371.3 per cent compared to last year outflows of $57.2 million in same period last year.

During the period, the SBP has received an amount of $0.1 million in the head of Foreign Public Portfolio Investment (Debt Securities), increasing by 100 per cent during July-Oct this year which was at negative $49.6 million in the same period last year, the data said.

The Chinese companies under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) invested an amount of $334.9 million in July-Oct 2018-19, while United Kingdom invested $64.5 million and Switzerland $36.3 million in Pakistan.

Major investment the country received are from USA ($45 m), Singapore ($17.1 m), Italy ($16.7 m), and Japan ($24 million) in different sectors, meanwhile Norway, Kuwait and Netherland pulled back their investment from Pakistan during the period.

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