Foreign investment in Pakistan fell by 26 per cent in first quarter

ISLAMABAD: Foreign investment in Pakistan fell in the first quarter of the current fiscal year starting from July 1 despite the government efforts to invite investors from the Arab world and China, a media report said today.

Foreign direct investment fell by 26 per cent during July-September as compared to the same period of last year, the Dawn reported.

What is more worrisome is the size of FDI which is almost negligible if compared with regional countries like India, China and Bangladesh, the paper said.

Pakistan received just $ 169 million FDI, which shows that no serious investor turned towards this country.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, himself a business tycoon, visited many countries to attract investment, but he is yet to see positive results of his efforts.

During the current fiscal year, foreign investment from friendly counties like Saudi Arabia and China was in the negative. They withdrew $ 3.9 million and $ 14.6 million, respectively, during the quarter.

Most of investment came from European countries, US and Hong Kong. The highest amount of $ 43 million was invested by Hong Kong, more than 25 per cent of the total investment of $ 169 million.

Other significant investments like $ 41.5 million and $ 36.6 million came from the US and the UK respectively.

Other European countries like Switzerland, Italy and France, also invested in Pakistan.

However, size of investment dropped to the lowest level in the last 10 years of Pakistan which is damaging the image of the country in the global market.

The country is under pressure of external obligations, like debt-servicing which rose to about $ 7 billion in FY-14.

This trend is highly dangerous for a country which receives negligible foreign investment while it is more critical that outflow as dividend and profits on previous investments, surpassed the FDI.