January 16, 2020: The month of December turned out to be a disappointment for Pakistan, as instead of inflow of funds, the country witnessed foreign disinvestment of $198.3 million.
According to the monthly data reported by the State Bank of Pakistan, this is the first time since April, 2019, that the country has seen negative investment. In fact, the figures are poles apart from the ones reported in the previous month, wherein the economy welcomed foreign investments of $904.1 million.
A breakdown of the above-mentioned figure shows that the Foreign Private Investment stood at $486.3 million, which comprised of Direct Investment of $487 million and Portfolio Disinvestment of $0.8 million.
On the other hand, the Foreign Public Disinvestment totaled $684.5 million during the month, all of which was accorded to Debt Securities.
It is imperative to note that the outflow of funds was a result of $1 billion Eurobonds repaid by the Government on December 3, 2019.
Nonetheless, the foreign direct investment during the first six months of Fiscal Year 2020 stood at $1.34 billion, marking a rise of 68% as compared to the same period of last year. Moreover, Foreign portfolio investment during the same period amounted to $452 million.
The overall investment in Pakistan during the six months stood at $1.8 billion, as opposed to $377 million of same period last year.
