Rabbani expresses concern over falling FDI

ISLAMABAD: PPP leader Senator Mian Raza Rabbani Thursday expressed concern over the falling Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and said it declined by 35 percent at the end of the third quarter, reflecting no improvement in the situation for investors.

“The government is following policies to strengthen various mafias, cartels, big business and promote crony capitalism,” he said in a statement. Rabbani said the government policies were anti-labour and anti-people converting Pakistan into a client state of the IMF.

He said according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data, the FDI fell by 35.1pc to $1.395 billion during July-March FY21 compared to $2.15bn in the same period of last fiscal. He said the FDI had dropped by 30pc during the first eight months of the current fiscal, and due to the 40pc decline recorded last month it had now fallen by 35pc after nine months.

Rabbani said the government remained unable to offer anything new to attract foreign investors this year. He said the latest data showed that inflow from China during the nine months of this fiscal was $650.8m, constituting 46pc of the total inflows so far.

He said China had been the largest investor in Pakistan for several years, but the inflow declined this year. “In the same period of last fiscal, the inflow from China was $859.3m; the decline this year was 24%,” he said.

He said inflow from Hong Kong had also declined to $105.7m compared to $135m in the same period of last fiscal, while inflows from the United Kingdom improved to $105m compared to $90.4m. “The FDI from the United States also increased to $88m compared to $65m last fiscal,” he said.