KARACHI: Foreign investors seem to have taken a wait-and-see approach in making new injections in Pakistan as total foreign investment has declined 75 percent to $1.042 billion during July – January 2018-19 against inflow of $4.138 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said.
Total foreign private investment declined 38.2 percent to $1.042 billion during first seven months of the current fiscal year compared with $1.687 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) slipped by 17.6 percent to $1.45 billion during July – January 2018-19 when compared with $1.76 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
Analysts said Pakistan had become a less attractive avenue for foreign investment due to inconsistency in taxation policies and increased cost of doing business.
Dried up Chinese inflows were the main cause of the slump, as major coal-fired and wind power projects under $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a part of Beijing’s vast Belt and Road initiative, began operating last year. While some of the power and infrastructure projects were near completion.
The investment into equity market witnessed a net outflow of $409 million during first seven months of the current fiscal year as compared with the outflow of $74 million in the same period of the last fiscal year.