KARACHI: Net foreign investment in Pakistan fell 0.3 per cent to $1.318 billion in the first nine months of the 2010/11 fiscal year, due to a decrease in foreign direct investment, the central bank said on Thursday.
Foreign investment totalled $1.321 billion in the same period last year.
Foreign direct investment fell 28 per cent in the July-March period to $1.08 billion from $1.50 billion in the same period last year, the State Bank of Pakistan said.
Pakistan's unstable security situation, a Taliban insurgency in the country's northwest and chronic power shortages have put off long-term investors, some analysts say.
However, with emerging markets increasingly on the radar of fund managers, Pakistan has seen a flow of foreign investment in the country's main stock exchange.
Foreign portfolio investment rose 229 per cent to $235.5 million in the first nine months of 2010/11, compared with an outflow of $182.6 million in the same period last year.
Pakistan has struggled with a troubled economy. An International Monetary Fund (IMF) emergency loan package agreed to in November 2008 helped Pakistan avert a balance of payments crisis and shore up reserves.
It received the fifth tranche of $1.13 billion of the $11 billion loan in May 2010. Pakistan and IMF authorities are scheduled to meet before June 30 to discuss the release of the sixth tranche.
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.