ISLAMABAD – Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment AbdulRazak Dawood has said that during first 10 months of current fiscal year(July-April), Pakistan witnessed net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of $2.281 billion as compared to US$ 1.006 billion in the corresponding periodof FY2018-19 (Jul-April) showing an increase of 126.8 percent.
“The country is rapidly gaining investors’ attention for a variety ofreasons in recent years”, he said while talking to APP here on Tuesday.
World Bank (WB) has recently highlighted that the Global Investment isexpected to be reduced by almost 40 percent both in 2020 and 2021 and thegrowing economies of developing countries are likely to be worst-hit interms of low FDI by the pandemic.
However, as per recent statistics issued by State Bank of Pakistan, thenegative impact of COVID 19 on FDI into Pakistan is not significant so far,rather Pakistan attracted Net FDI of US$ 2.281 billion as compared to US$1.006 billion compared to the correspondence period of FY 2018-19(Jul-April).
The World Bank (WB) has also projected a 23 percent decline in remittancesfor Pakistan, totaling about $17 billion in 2020 compared with a total of$22.5 billion in 2019 due to the economic crisis induced by the pandemic,and lockdowns in most cities abroad.However, despite these projections, things can be turned around withcarefully crafted strategies and finding opportunities in new areas.
The advisor said that the country has successfully managed to overcome thesecurity challenges; the infrastructure has significantly improved,connectivity with Western China is in its final stages, a new deep-sea portis being developed, reform drives are being recognized around the world;and the long-term economic outlook remains positive.
Prime Minister himself is leading the reforms to facilitate investors andto ensure Ease of Doing Business, he said.
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Razak said that recently, Pakistan has announced transformational visareforms by introducing E-Visa facilities to most of the countries.
Replying to a question , he said that with the current positivedevelopments and government’s focus on inviting private investments in keysectors including Information Technology and Enabled Services, FoodProcessing, Textile and Logistics among others, many of Pakistan’sbilateral ties around the world are shifting from transactionalrelationships to mutually beneficial economic partnerships.
Replying to another question, he said that due to Covid-19 ,” we are facinga truly unprecedented situation in the human history affecting millions ofhuman lives and the economic activities”Razak said that in the last 5 years Inflow, Outflow and net FDI to Pakistanhas some time increased and decreased,He further said that COVID 19 has no doubt slowed down the businessactivities all over the world including Pakistan.
The advisor said most of the economies are going through recession, whichis evident from the fact that almost 80 countries have called onInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) for support.
