Pakistan’s foreign direct investment has plunged 52 per cent during the first four months of the current fiscal year (FY23) amid the crashing economic health and political instability in the country.
The latest data issued by the Pakistan State Bank on Monday, showed the FDI fell to USD 348.3 million in July-October FY23 from USD 726.5 million during the same period of the last fiscal year, according to the reports.
The reports suggest that the Foreign Direct Investment of Pakistan has been declining by every passing year while the volume of investment is also very thin compared to that of regional countries like India, Bangladesh and China.
Notably, throughout the first four months of the fiscal year, China contributed the most FDI, at USD 74.8 million.
China has reportedly been the largest investor for a number of years, but as shown by the comparison numbers for the past two years, its investment has started to decline.
In the meantime, FDI inflows from the UAE rose to USD 67.6 million in the first four months from USD 51.4 million in the corresponding period last year.
Recently reports related to country’s default risks were surfacing but Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal rejected them on Sunday and termed them as “propaganda’ of Imran Khan’s PTI.
After Imran expressed concern about Pakistan’s economic situation and claimed that the Shehbaz Sharif government was unable to control it, the federal minister for Pakistan made the comments.
“The news about Pakistan’s default risk is based on a malicious campaign initiated by the PTI which has no reality,” Iqbal said.
He further said, “The PTI destroyed the country’s economy which led to an economic crisis but the incumbent government has improved the economy by following the agreement with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and for the last six months, Pakistan has adopted a path of stability.”