Although the inflow of foreign private investment finding way to Pakistan continues to be meagre, in terms of absolute amount, compared with its next door neighbours China and India, it has picked up phenomenally in percentage terms in the recent years.
This was amply clear from the data just released by the State Bank for the period July-September 2005. According to the data, foreign private investment during July-September 2005 (first quarter of FY06) went up by $291 million, or 159 percent, over the level ($183 million) it achieved in the first quarter of FY05 (July-September 2004).
Component-wise, portfolio investment increased from $80 million to $145 million, or by 81 percent; while direct investment increased from $103 million to $329 million, or by 219 percent.
Major players in the area of portfolio investment were USA and UK, contributing 61 percent and 26 percent, respectively, of total such investment. In the case of direct investment also USA and UK were the major contributors, though UAE also contributed in a big way.
The respective shares were 26 percent, 13 percent and 17 percent. Other major direct investor nations included Netherlands (6 percent), Switzerland (5 percent) and Japan (4 percent).