Foreign direct investment falls by 30pc during July-Feb

Foreign direct investment falls by 30pc during July-Feb

KARACHI: The net inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) has declined by 30 percent during first eight months (July – February) 2020/2021 owing to significant increase in outflow of the investment during the period under review.

According to data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday, the FDI fell to $1.3 billion during first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared with $1.85 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

The inflows under this head witnessed a decline of 16 percent to $1.98 billion during July – February 2020/2021 as compared with $2.36 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

However, outflow under this head increased by 35 percent to $683 million during the period under review as compared with $507 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

The overall inflow of private foreign investment fell by 43 percent to $1.04 billion during the first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared with $1.83 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

The portfolio investment from the equity market witnessed massive outflows during the period. The portfolio investment saw an outflow of $256 million during the first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared with outflow of $26.3 million in the same period of the last fiscal year.

The foreign public investment recorded outflow of $132 million during first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared with inflows of $2.16 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.