Chinese investment jumps 45.26% in first half of FY19

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from China in Pakistan increased by 45.26 per cent to US$1,104.2 million in the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year against the investment of $760 million recorded during the same period of last year.

According to latest data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), FDI from the United Kingdom also increased to $116 million in the first half of FY19 compared to an investment of $113.2 million in the same period of the preceding year.

Similarly, FDI from United Arab Emirates (UAE) also surged to $49.2 million in Jul-Dec (2018-19) from $16.2 million in the same period of the year 2017-18, the data revealed.

Meanwhile, spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance in a tweet said that due to investment-friendly policies of the government of Pakistan, FDI has increased in December by 17 per cent.

He said Pakistan witnessed a 17 per cent increase in FDI to $319.2 million in December 2018 compared to $272.8 million during December 2017. China invested $120.6 million followed by Norway and Netherlands with an investment of $65.2 million and $47.6 million respectively, he added.

The investment from the Netherlands increased to $52.8 million compared to FDI of $49.9 million recorded during Jul-Dec (2017-18).

The SBP data revealed that South Korean investment in Pakistan during the period under review swelled to $59.6 million against the FDI of $2.7 million recorded during July-December (2017-18).

Likewise, the FDI from Germany went up from $14.2 million in the first half of current fiscal year to $20.7 million, whereas FDI from Hongkong also made a stride from $2.1 million FDI in Jul-Dec of FY18 to $37.8 million in the same period of the current fiscal year.

FDI from Bahrain in Pakistan increased from $7.5 million to $15.9 million while the investment from Japan surged to $54.2 million from $28.3 million during the period under review.

FDI from the United States, however, declined from $72 million in first six months of the year 2017-18 to $54 million in the same period of the current fiscal year.

Similarly, investment from Switzerland also declined from $37.3 million to $15.6 million, the data revealed.

The sector-wise data shows that FDI in oil and gas exploration rose to $134.7 million in Jul-Dec FY19 compared to the FDI of $106.7 million in the same sector during the same period of last year.

Similarly, in the textile sector FDI also rose to $32.2 million from $25.8 million, whereas in electrical machinery, the FDI jumped to $124.7 million in the corresponding period of the current fiscal year against $10.9 million investment during the same period last year.

In transport equipment (automobile) sector, the FDI also increased from just $1.5 million to $54.5 million.

FDI in financial business, however, recorded a decline as it decreased to $203 million from $276.1 million, whereas, FDI in power sector also fell to $201.9 million in the first half of FY19 from $611.9 million in the same period of last year.