KARACHI: Foreign investors have repatriated the highest-ever $918 million on account of profit and dividend during May 2024, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on Thursday.
Repatriation of profit and dividend by foreign investors posted an exponential growth of 1,522 percent during May 2024 compared to April 2024. Repatriation of profit and dividend by foreign investors clocked in at $918.1 million during May 2024 against $56.6 million repatriated in April 2024, showing an increase of $ 861 million.
Analysts said for the first time in the history of the country a huge amount was sent in a month on account of repatriation of profit and dividends. This is due to the lifting of restrictions on outflow of foreign exchange by the government. It is expected that with this record repatriation in a month, all pending payments have been cleared, they added.
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During May 2024, most of the amount was repatriated on account return on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Out of the total amount, repatriation of profit and dividend from FDI was $887.5 million and Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) stood at $30.5 million.
The highest outflow of profit and dividends amounting to $258 million was sent to the UK and Netherland ranked second $ 109.5 million in May 2024.
Cumulatively, during the first eleven months of this fiscal year, repatriation also saw a significant rise of 476 percent year-on-year. Foreign investors repatriated $1.805 billion in July-May of FY24 compared to $ 313 million in the same period of last fiscal year (FY23), depicting an increase of $1.5 billion.
An amount of $ 1.7 billion was repatriated on account of return on FDI during the first eleven months of this fiscal year, up from $257.2 million in corresponding period of last fiscal year.
Rerun on FPI also increased from $56 million to $106 million during the period under review.
Interestingly, the repatriated amount on account of FDI returns is equal to foreign direct investment worth $1.728 billion, Pakistan attracted during this period. Analysts said the surge in the repatriation of profit and dividend has been witnessed after the relaxation of capital controls that were implemented during the last year to curtail the outflow of foreign exchange from the country.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024