According to the latest data released by State Bank of Pakistan, total Foreign Direct Investment during the outgoing ten months went up by 2.3 percent reaching $2.237 billion against $2.184 billion in the same period last year.
Foreign Private Investment in Portfolio during the ten months also went up by 69.9 percent increasing by a cumulative number of $257.5 million. However, Foreign Private Investment in Portfolio continues to remain in negative.
In addition to that, Foreign Public Investment in Portfolio also witnessed steep gains of more than 154 percent concentrated exclusively in debt securities. Total Foreign Public Investment in Debt Securities during the outgoing ten months has reached to $2.450 billion versus $962.5 million last year.
Amongst the countries investing most in Pakistan’s economy, China topped the list as it invested more than $1.419 billion during the last ten months of current fiscal year; up by a whopping 46 percent against the same period last year.
In another surprising development, United States has also upped the ante with regards to investments in Pakistan. During the period of July – April, Fiscal Year 2018 investments by the United States have gone up by more than 584 percent reaching a total of $633.1 million.
Investment from United Kingdom have also started pouring in since the feasibility of China-Pakistan corridor begins to whet the appetites of western economies. Investments, during the current fiscal year, from United Kingdom reached $174.5 million compared to $35.9 million last year.
United Kingdom had recently announced an investment of £100 million in the petroleum and consumer sector. In a meeting held between the Commerce Minister Mr. Pervaiz Malik and UK Trade Minisetr Greg Hands at London, agreements were signed between the two nations on investment in fuel and consumer sectors.
During the meeting, Shell had agreed on setting up around one-hundred new fuel stations along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route at selective locations representing up to 13 million pound of investment by 2020.
In addition to Shell, Unilever was also to invest 86 million pounds in new manufacturing capacity at its four factories in Pakistan.
On the contrary front, however, Luxembourg, Egypt and Hong Kong’s cumulative outflows from Pakistan reached $633.1 million with Luxembourg pulling back $277.7 from the economy.
