KARACHI: According to information released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday, foreign direct investment (FDI) dropped 1.6% from the same time last year to $1.45 billion in the first 10 months of 2021-22.
In April, $170,6 million came in, which is almost the same as a year ago.
Even though the external account got worse over the past year, there was no change in the amount of FDI that came in. The country’s external sector has gotten worse because of a record-high trade deficit, a gap in the current account, and a big drop in the value of the local currency compared to the dollar and other major currencies.
These bad things seem to have made foreign investors less likely to take the risk of investing more money in Pakistan. But the amount of FDI that came in as a whole did not go down.
The amount of money coming in from China dropped by 49.1% from July to April of the previous year, to $355.8m. Pakistan’s most important trade partner is China.
In the same 10 months, the amount of money coming in from the US increased by 98.2%, to $223m.
There was no change in FDI from Hong Kong. Pakistan got $134 million from the Asian country, which is a little more than the $127 million it got during the same time last fiscal year.
During the period under review, money came in from Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates in the amounts of $119.8m and $118m, respectively.
Experts think that political uncertainty could hurt FDI inflows in the coming months.
