Foreign investors repatriated $335 million on account of profit and dividend during the first quarter of this fiscal year (FY17). Although the overall repatriation of profit and dividend during July-September of FY17 is less than the same period of fiscal year (FY16), the repatriated amount is even higher than the overall Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) fetched during the period under review.
Economists said foreign investors made huge investment during 2005-10 in various mega projects of communication, transport, oil and gas, energy and food sector and the pace of repatriation reflects that foreign investors are earning healthy profits on their investments in Pakistan.
They said although foreign investment was on the decline in the early months of this fiscal year, however in coming months Pakistan is expected to receive more investment as the economy is growing well. According to State Bank of Pakistan, year-on-year basis, repatriation of profit and dividend posted a slight decline of about 6.7 percent during the first three months of this fiscal year. Foreign investors repatriated some $335 million on account of profit and dividend during July-September of FY17 compared to $359.4 million in the corresponding period of last fiscal year, depicting a decrease of $24.4 million.
The detailed analysis reveal that the major outflow of profit and dividend was from FDI and cumulatively, over 92 percent of the repatriated amount was sent from returns on FDI. The remaining 8 percent was from portfolio investment. During the period under review, repatriation from FDI fell by 1.5 percent. Foreign investors sent abroad $307.3 million as returns on FDI during the first quarter of this fiscal year compared to $312 million in the corresponding period of last fiscal year, depicting an increase of $4.8 million.
With 38 percent decline, overall FDI stood at $249.3 million in July-September of FY17 compared to $403.3 million FDI in July-September of FY16. However, the repatriated amount $307.3 on account of FDI is also higher than FDI $249 million arrived in first quarter of this fiscal year.