 "FDI in Pakistan down by 27% in first seven months, says report")
Foreign direct investment in Pakistan has seen a 27 per cent decline in the first seven months of the current fiscal, owing mainly to the fall in investment from its close ally China, a media report said on Tuesday.
The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Pakistan during the first seven years fell by 27 per cent compared to the same period last fiscal year, Dawn newspaper reported, quoting the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as saying.
The SBP, the central bank, on Monday said that the FDI during July-January FY-21 was USD 1.145 billion against an inflow of USD 1.577bn in the same period last fiscal year.
The inflow during January was USD 192.7 million compared to USD 219 million in the same month of the previous fiscal year, registering a 12 per cent decline.
However, the seven-month decline was mainly due to a decline in net FDI from China and increase in net outflow to Norway, the report said.
The country-wise details showed that net inflow of FDI from China was USD 402.8 million against USD 502.6 million in the same period of last fiscal year.
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So far, the net FDI from China is the highest in the list of inflows from other countries.
The inflows from China were USD 707.2 million during the seven months but the outflow of USD 304.4 million in the same period reduced the net FDI to USD 402.8 million.
Others from where over USD 100 million net FDIs were received were the Netherlands and Hong Kong, as they invested USD 122 million and USD 105 million, respectively, during the first seven months of FY21.
The inflows of FDI from the UK (USD 83.8m), the US (USD 73.5m) and Malta (USD 60.6m) were also significant during the seven months.
However, a drastic change in the inflows from Norway affected the overall inflow of FDI this year.
The SBP data shows that during the seven months of the previous fiscal year, the inflow from Norway was USD 288.5 million, while in the seven months of the current financial year a net outflow of USD 25.8 million was noted instead of any inflow from the Scandinavian country.
The power sector attracted the highest investment of USD 475.8 m against USD 373 m in the same period of last financial year; an increase of 27.6 per cent.
