Foreign investors repatriate $139m from Pakistan in July

August 28, 2024 (MLN): Foreign investors' repatriation of profit and dividends rose significantly to $139.13 million in July compared to $2.16m worth of repatriation in the same period last year, the latest data issued by the central bank revealed.

The data further revealed that during the period, foreign companies repatriated $133.86m worth of profit against the foreign direct investments (FDI) in various businesses compared to $1.53m in SPLY, marking an increase of around 8633.5% YoY in July.

The outflow as payment against portfolio investment stood at $5.27m, compared with $0.62m in July 2023, witnessing a growth of 745.88%.

This massive outflow is attributed to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) permitting foreign companies to repatriate profits and dividends.

Sector-wise:

Sectorial representation of the data shows that the major sectors that witnessed the highest repatriation include the Power, Tobacco & Cigarettes, Transport, Financial Business and Chemicals sectors.

Among these, the Power sector repatriated the highest profits of $29.5m in July to overseas.

The data further revealed that Profit outflows from the Tobacco & Cigarettes sector clocked in at $22.13m.

Profits outflow from the Transport sector increased significantly to $21.25m in FY24.

The payments made on total foreign investment under the Financial Business and Chemicals sector stood at $16.09m and $13.49m respectively during the review period.

Country-wise:

A country-wise break of data on repatriation of profit released by SBP revealed that firms and individual investors in France dispatched the single largest profit of $30.6m during July.

The United Kingdom witnessed the repatriation of the second-highest profits as the country repatriated $29.94m abroad during FY24, compared with $0.15m in FY23.

Third in line was the United States which repatriated $22.08m from Pakistan, up as compared to the number during SPLY, when the country remitted $0.53m as profit income from Pakistan.

Next in line was U.A.E with a profit repatriation of $20.74m during the review period.

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