Pakistan's power sector leads FDI outflow with $242.58m in January

February 20, 2024 (MLN): Pakistan’s Power Sector witnessed the highest net outflow through FDI worth $242.58 million in January 2024, followed by Telecommunications with divestment of $15.16m, as per the latest data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Meanwhile, the trade sector ranked first in terms of the highest inflow, witnessing an inflow of $25.1m in the review month.

In 7MFY24, the power sector recorded the highest inflow among all sectors as FDI in this sector stood at $190.96m, against the inflow of $544.1m recorded in 7MFY23.

The cumulative data further detailed that hydel Power projects under the Power Segment attracted the most investors’ attention as it received the highest net inflows of $275.4m during 7MFY24 compared to the net inflows of $210.3m in 7MFY23, up by 30.96% YoY.

This was followed by Oil & Gas exploration sector which attracted a net FDI of $134.64m during the review period as against $75.2m in the previous fiscal year, marking a rise of 79.11% YoY.

The third-highest net FDI receiver is the Financial Business sector with cumulative net inflows of $108.18m, showing a decline of 35.19% YoY as the sector observed $166.19m net foreign inflows in SPLY.

On the other hand, the communication sector witnessed the highest disinvestment of $94.97m in 7MFY24, against the negative FDI of $150.55m in 7MFY23, down by 36.92% YoY.

The Transport Equipment(Automobiles) sector was the second sector in line to record a negative FDI of $4.7m, against an inflow of $69.5m incurred in the SPLY. 

Furthermore, the Mining & Quarrying sector also faced an outflow of $1.94m in 7MFY24, significantly down as in 7MFY23, the divestment stood at $216.69m.

It is crucial to mention that in January, FDI in the country turned negative, reaching $173.2m, marking the highest divestment since October 2018.

On a cumulative basis, within 7MFY24, FDI has decreased to $689.5m as compared to Foreign investment of $876.8m reported in the corresponding period last year.

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