The political unrest in the country coupled with the global economicslowdown has made Pakistan one of the least preferred choices for foreigninvestors, as the foreign direct investment (FDI) dipped by 52 percentduring July-October of the current fiscal year (FY23) on a year-on-year(YoY) basis.
According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), foreigndirect investment in the country declined to $348 million during the periodof July-October FY23 as compared to $726 million reported in the lastfinancial year mainly in the real sector.
The major investment received by the country was from China which stood at$74 million during the period under review. Investment inflows stood fromUAE stood at $67 million, while that from Switzerland and Netherlands stoodat $46 million and $37 million respectively.
The power sector maintained its attraction for foreign investment whichreceived $155 million in FDI during the period under review. It wasfollowed by financial business that saw investment inflows of $97.5 millionand the cosmetic sector recorded inflows of $18.4 million during the firstfour months of FY23.
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The foreign portfolio investment (FPI) also recorded an outflow of $33.87million during the said period. Foreign investors withdrew their capital of$15.6 million from the equity market whereas outflows of $18.2 million wereregistered from debt securities.
Analysts said that investment inflows have been affected due tointernational and domestic economic and political unrest however once thedust settles, the inflows are likely to come in various sectors of theeconomy including equity market and debt securities.
