Mining, quarrying sector draws largest FDI inflows in September

October 16, 2026 (MLN): Pakistan’s mining and quarrying sector attracted the largest gross foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in September 2026, receiving $62.6m with no outflows, according to provisional data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The sector’s net FDI also stood at $62.6m, equal to 28.52% of the country’s total net FDI for the month.

For the first quarter of FY27 (July–September), mining and quarrying posted net FDI of $102.7m on gross inflows of $128.5m and outflows of $25.8m.

That is down 48.26% year-on-year (YoY) from $198.5m in the same period of FY26, as inflows fell 43.76% from $228.5m and outflows eased 14% from $30.0m.

Financial Business was the second-largest recipient, with gross inflows of $59.9m against outflows of $4.1m, generating net FDI of $55.8m.

This was down 34.12% month-on-month (MoM) from $84.7m in August.

Cumulative net FDI in the sector reached $191.3m in July–September, up 39.03% YoY from $137.6m.

The power sector received gross inflows of $57.6m and recorded outflows of $17.1m, leaving net FDI of $40.5m. This was down 53.87% MoM from $87.8m, as inflows fell 41.64% from $98.7m and outflows rose 56.88% from $10.9m. Cumulative net FDI in the sector stood at $139.4m, up 32.01% YoY from $105.6m.

Within the sector, hydel power drew $30.2m in inflows against outflows of $1.7m, for net FDI of $28.4m.

That was down 23.86% MoM from $37.3m, and cumulative hydel net FDI of $74.8m was down 12.41% YoY from $85.4m. Coal power attracted $26.1m in inflows and $12.3m in outflows, leaving net FDI of $13.8m, down 68.35% MoM from $43.6m.

 Cumulative coal net FDI of $61.2m was up 131.82% YoY from $26.4m. Thermal power recorded a net outflow of $1.8m, as inflows of $1.3m were outweighed by outflows of $3.1m, against net FDI of $6.9m in August.

The Trade sector received inflows of $28.7m and outflows of $1.2m, leaving net FDI of $27.5m, down 48.88% MoM from $53.8m.

Cumulative net FDI in the sector stood at $115.7m, up 4,720.83% YoY from $2.4m in July–September FY26.

Transport Equipment (Automobiles) drew $26.1m in inflows with negligible outflows, keeping net FDI at $26.0m, mostly from buses, trucks, vans and trailers at $22.5m. Cumulative net FDI in the sector reached $35.0m, up 194.12% YoY from $11.9m.

In contrast, Electronics recorded a net outflow of $20.6m on outflows of $20.6m, almost all from consumer and household electronics.

Overall, Pakistan received $292.7m in gross FDI inflows during September 2026, down 27.17% MoM from $401.9m in August. Outflows eased to $73.2m, down 14.98% MoM from $86.1m, taking total net FDI to $219.5m, a decline of 30.52% MoM from $315.9m.

For the first quarter of FY27 (July–September 2026), cumulative net FDI stood at $719.7m on gross inflows of $967.7m and outflows of $248.0m.

This compares with net FDI of $600.4m over the same period of FY26, a rise of 19.87%, with gross inflows up 19.99% from $806.5m and outflows up 20.27% from $206.2m.

The figures suggest that net investment cooled in September after a strong August, as power, financial business and trade inflows all moderated.

Even so, mining, financial business and auto-sector inflows kept the first-quarter total well ahead of last year.

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