83 per cent drop in foreign investment in Pak: Report

During the first quarter of the current fiscal, Pakistan received investment worth USD 50.1 million from countries and groupings like the US, Britain and the European Union, a media report said here today.

This was 82.8 per cent less than the foreign investment in the same period of the last fiscal year, The News daily quoted its sources in the Finance Ministry as saying.

The report further blamed rudderless government policies for apparently scaring away foreign investors.

In numerical terms, the drop in investments amounted USD 241.8 million.
In the first quarter of the last fiscal, Pakistan had attracted USD 291.9 million from developed economies.

However, in the first quarter of the current fiscal, investment from the European Union dropped from USD 83.2 million to USD 22.9 million.

The investment from the US dropped from USD 158.6 million to USD 124.7 million while the investment from Britain fell from USD 85.1 million to USD 22.7 million.

Economic experts said extremely weak economic conditions, the unstable political situation, inconsistent economic policies, poor law and order, rise in corruption and an adverse business atmosphere were the main hurdles in attracting foreign investment.

They told the daily it was unimaginable to think that investors would be attracted to the country without the government tackling these issues.