Billions upon billions of dollars of foreign direct investment continue to flow into Pakistan. :k:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\10\31\story_31-10-2006_pg5_2
Foreign investment up 137.6% in Q1
The total foreign investment in the country went up by 137.6 percent to $1.149 billion in July-September 2006-07 compared with only $483.7 million received in the same period last year. The portfolio investment, which was slow since the beginning of the current fiscal year, further declined in July-September 2006-07 to $120.6 million, down by 16 percent compared with that in the same period of 2005-06. Direct investment in the country shot up by 203 percent in July-September 2006-07 to $1.029 billion against $338.7 million last year. According to the figure released by the State Bank of Pakistan on Monday, the telecommunication sector received an amount of $133.2 million from the United Arab Emirates in September this year. “It must be an installment against the privatization of Pakistan Telecommunica-tion Company (PTCL),” an analyst said. “There has been instability in the local stock market for the last few months and it has been the main hurdle to foreign investment,” the analyst said. **“The direct investment figures are encouraging for the country,” said the analyst. “The country has received an amount of $1.149 billion in last three months, which shows that the government would easily achieve its FDI target of $4 billion for the current fiscal year,” he added. In the outgoing fiscal year, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had received total foreign investment of $3.872 billion. **
International donors agencies are pressuring the government to privatize public-sector entities to raise FDI. Recently the Privatization Commission has announced to hold Global Depository Receipts (GDR) of the government’s holdings in National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank, Allied Bank and oil exploration company Oil and Gas Development Company to raise foreign investment. The government has announced it would sell GDR through the London stock market by the end of this calendar year. Portfolio investment from the USA declined to $34.7 million in July-Sept 2006-07 compared with the $88.2 million in July-Sept last year. Major investment in the local bourses was from Singapore, which stood at $46.6 million in July-Sept 2006 compared with $0.1 million in the same period last year. The European Union made an investment of $70.2 million in the last three months compared with $35.2 million in the same period last year. The United Kingdom invested $67.9 million in the last three month, while such investment stood at $38.3 million in the same period last year. Direct investment from western Europe and the European Union has gone up to $447.2 million and $413 million, respectively. Major inflows of foreign investment of $282.7 million have been received into the financial business: $325 million in the telecommunication sector, $42.8 million in thermal power and $161.8 million in oil and gas exploration.