ISLAMABAD, June 22: The foreign direct investment in Pakistan crossed $1 billion mark during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, showing an increase of 14 per cent over the same period last year.

Talking to Dawn here on Wednesday, Waseem Haqqie, Chairman of the Board of Investment, said the FDI during July-May of the current year had amounted to $1.03 billion, as compared to $903 million of the same period last year.

Financial business emerged as the leading sector to attract direct investment from abroad with $214 million, followed by oil and gas $189.6 million, and the communication sector $171.7 million.

The power sector attracted $67.4 million and the chemical sector $40.5 million. However, the BoI chief did not elaborate how much of this investment came as a result of sale of state-owned entities to the foreign investors.

In terms of percentage, the financial business constituted 20.8 per cent of the FDI, followed by 18.4 per cent by oil and gas and 16.7 per cent by communications. Power and chemical sectors attracted 6.5 per cent and 3.9pc, respectively. The share of other sectors stood at 29.3 per cent.

The United States topped the list of investing countries with 24.7 per cent share. The share of other countries is: the UK 15.9 per cent, Switzerland 13.2 per cent, the UAE 7.5 per cent, Japan four per cent, the Netherlands 3.4 per cent, and others 31.3 per cent.

The BoI chairman expects that total FDI during the current year would exceed $1.1 billion. The highest FDI in Pakistan stood at $1.5 billion in the 1990s when a large number of foreign investors established independent power producers (IPPs) and the then government partially offloaded its stakes in United Bank Limited and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited.

The next year’s FDI is likely to touch $4 billion mark as a result of realization of proceeds of some high profile transactions like PTCL and others.

Mr Haqqie claimed that the substantial increase in FDI was an indicator of investors’ confidence and change of perception about Pakistan at the international level. “This has been possible because of liberal policies of the government towards creation of investor-friendly climate, provision of level-playing field and good governance,” he adds.