Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Pakistan rose slightly by 2 percent during the first half of this fiscal year (FY16) compared to the same period of last fiscal year (FY15).
According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the country attracted FDI amounting to $624.1 million during first six months (July-Dec) of FY16 against $610.4 million in the corresponding period of FY15, depicting an increase of $13.7 million. During the period under review, FDI inflows stood at $1.087 billion against the outflows of $463.1 million. However, the second component of foreign investment in Pakistan, ie, portfolio investment continued to witness a downward trend and declined 260 percent or $387.2 million during the period under review. Portfolio investment stood negative at $238.3 million in July-December of this fiscal year compared to $149 million inflows in the same period of last fiscal year.
Analysts said although FDI has registered some increase during the first half, however, the foreign investment statistics are still not satisfactory. They said that uncertain economic policies, energy crisis and poor infrastructure have largely contributed towards slow foreign investment. They said that the federal government is required to take some long-term measures for a surge in foreign investment. Similarly, during the period under review, net inflows of foreign investment, comprising FDI, portfolio investment and foreign public investment registered 50 percent decline. Cumulatively, foreign investment in Pakistan stood at $864.3 million in July-December of FY16 compared to $1.734 billion in the same period of last fiscal year.