Six-month foreign direct investment jumps 68.3pc

KARACHI: The inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) jumped 68.3 per cent to $1.34 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year compared to $796.8 million in the same period last year.

The major chunk of these investments was concentrated in the telecommunication, power and electrical machinery sectors with China and Norway emerging as the top investors. The SBP figures showed surprise addition of Malta which invested $111.1m during the July-December period of 2019-20.

The jump in the cumulative FDI numbers came following a one-off payment made by the telecommunication companies — Telenor, Warid and Zong — for licence renewal.

On the flipside, data for December 2019 showed total foreign investment bottom-line outflow of $198.3m. Although the FDI increased by 52.6pc to $487m in the month and $684m outflow in the debt securities – bonds, T-bills and PIBs — closed the total investment account in negative.