Foreign Direct Investment slows down by 26% in May

ISLAMABAD, Jun 20: Foreign direct investment in Pakistan declined in May by 26 percent to $237.9 million compared with $322.7 million in the same month of the previous year.

The accumulated FDI during first 11 months of current fiscal year also witnessed a slight decrease of 1.3 percent as it went down to $2.47 billion in July-May (2017-18) from $2.5 billion in same period of fiscal year 2016-17, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on Wednesday.

According to the central bank data, China remained the largest foreign investor with net investment of $95.6 million in May, followed by the Norway $84.6 million, the United Kingdom $15.1 million, Japan $9.1 million, Singapore $8.9 million, Switzerland $7.9 million, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) 7.7 million.

During the month, the net FDI from Luxembourg was recorded $5.9 million while from Hungary, Germany, Italy and Turkey the net inflow of FDI remained $5.2 million, $4.4 million, $3.6 million, and $3.5 million respectively.

Sector-wise data shows that in in cement sector, the net FDI was recorded $4.9 million, in electrical machinery $8.3 million, while in transport sector, $7.8 million, power sector $10.6 million, and in communication sector, the FDI was recorded $81.6 million.

In food sector the net FDI amounting to $2.8 million was made while in tobacco, sugar, textiles, leather, and chemicals' sectors, the Foreign Direct Investment of $2.4 million, $0.3 million, $2.9 million, $0.4 million, and $7.5 million was made respectively.  

Similarly in petroleum refining sector an amount of $8 million while in oil and gas exploration, $11.7 million was invested. (APP)