KARACHI – Net foreign investment in Pakistan rose 27 percent to $1.23 billion in the first eight months of the 2010/11 fiscal year, because of a sharp rise in foreign portfolio investment, the central bank revealed.
Foreign investment was $969.5 million in the same period last year. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) fell 21.8 percent in the July-February period to $989.6 million, from $1.26 billion in the same period last year, the State Bank of Pakistan said.
A shaky security situation, a nsurgency in the country’s northwest and chronic power shortages have put off long-term investors, analysts say. However, with emerging markets on the radar of fund managers, Pakistan has seen a flow of foreign investment in the country’s main stock exchange.
Foreign portfolio investment rose 182 percent to $242.1 million in the first eight months of 2010/11, compared with an outflow of $295.3 million in the same period last year. An International Monetary Fund (IMF) emergency loan package agreed to in November 2008 helped Pakistan avert a balance of payments crisis and shore up reserves.
