Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood Tuesday said that Pakistan has witnessed an increase of 126.8 percent in net foreign direct investment (FDI) during the first ten months of current fiscal year against the corresponding period of last financial year.
The advisor added that Pakistan witnessed net FDI of $2.281 billion as compared to $1.006 billion in the corresponding period of FY2018-19 (Jul-April), showing an increase of 126.8 percent. He said the country is rapidly gaining investors’ attention for a variety of reasons in recent years. He said the Prime Minister himself is leading the reforms to facilitate investors and ensure ease of doing business. He said that World Bank (WB) has recently highlighted that the global investment is expected to be reduced by almost 40 percent both in 2020 and 2021 and the growing economies of developing countries are likely to be worst-hit in terms of low FDI by the pandemic. However, as per recent statistics issued by State Bank of Pakistan, the negative impact of Covid-19 on FDI into Pakistan is not significant so far.
The World Bank (WB) has also projected a 23 percent decline in remittances for Pakistan, totaling about $17 billion in 2020 compared with a total of $22.5 billion in 2019 due to the economic crisis induced by the pandemic, and lockdowns in most cities abroad. He said that despite these projections, things can be turned around with carefully crafted strategies and finding opportunities in new areas. The advisor said that the country has successfully managed to overcome the security challenges; the infrastructure has significantly improved, connectivity with Western China is in its final stages, a new deep-sea port is being developed, reform drives are being recognized around the world; and the long-term economic outlook remains positive. Razak said that recently, Pakistan has announced transformational visa reforms by introducing e-visa facilities to most of the countries. He said that with the current positive developments and the government’s focus on inviting private investments in key sectors including information technology and enabled services, food processing, textile and logistics among others, many of Pakistan’s bilateral ties around the world are shifting from transactional relationships to mutually beneficial economic partnerships.