Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) continued to post declining trend and fell by 1.4 percent during the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY15) "The current trend is not surprising as since the beginning of this fiscal year FDI is on decline and expected to remain lower or equal to previous year because of political unrest and poor law and order situation," economists said.
Although, government has conducted a successful auction of Sukuk and brought inflows amounting to one billion dollar during this fiscal year, the foreign investors are still reluctant to invest directly in Pakistan, they added. "We need to provide peaceful environment, basic infrastructure and long-term polices to attract foreign direct investment in the country," they suggested.
The State Bank of Pakistan on Wednesday revealed that FDI posted a decline of 1.4 percent during first seven months of FY15. Net FDI stood at $545.4 million in July-September of this fiscal year compared to $553.2 million in corresponding period of last fiscal year (FY14), depicting a fall of $7.9 million. During the period under review, FDI inflows were $1.653 billion against outflow of $1.11 billion.
Similarly, second component of foreign investment in Pakistan ie portfolio investment witnessed upward trend and rose by 320 percent or $129 million during the period under review. Portfolio investment reached $169.2 million in first seven months of this fiscal year compared to $40.3 million in same period of last fiscal year. Net inflows of foreign investment, comprising FDI, portfolio investment and foreign public investment have reached $1.688 billion mark, up by 155 percent.
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