KARACHI: The repatriation of profits and dividends by foreign investors in Pakistan surged by 75 percent in the first month of the current fiscal year (FY26). According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), foreign investors repatriated $244 million during July 2025, compared to $139 million in July 2024, marking a significant rise of $105 million.
Economists said the sharp increase in the repatriation of profits and dividends reflected an improved economic conditions and higher profitability. Overall business confidence of the foreign investors in Pakistan has improved in the last one year.
The last survey conducted by the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) has shown marked improvement in business confidence over the country’s economy and for the first time in the past three years business confidence has entered positive territory.
Foreign investors: FY25 profit repatriation totals $2.22bn
According to OICCI’s Business Confidence Index (BCI) Wave 27 survey conducted during March and April 2025, significant improvement has been witnessed in the overall business confidence, which improved by 16 percentage points to positive 11 percent from negative 5pc in the previous wave conducted in Oct-Nov 2024.
In addition, Gallup Pakistan’s latest survey also said that the confidence of Pakistan’s private businesses has surged in the country’s direction to its highest level in nearly four years. The improvement comes despite inflation, high utility costs, and electricity load-shedding continue to hinder business operations.
In FY24, the government imposed some restrictions on profit repatriation to manage external liabilities and maintain foreign exchange reserves. However, these restrictions were removed during the last fiscal year (FY25) and foreign investors were allowed to repatriate the entire profit and dividend.
SBP Governor Jameel Ahmed, during a recent media interaction, stated that as of end-June 2025, no payment to any foreign investor on account of profit or dividend remained pending with the State Bank. “With Pakistan’s improving macroeconomic stability and adequate foreign exchange reserves, the SBP’s reserves crossed the $14 billion mark by the end of June 2025”, he added.
The SBP’s data revealed that in July 2025, repatriation of profits and dividends on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rose significantly, while outflows from Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) declined.
Almost the entire outflow, $243.8 million was on account of FDI-related profit and dividend repatriation during the first month of the current fiscal year, compared to $134 million in the same period last year. This reflects an increase of 82 percent, or $110 million.
In contrast, outflows from FPI stood at just $0.2 million in July 2025, down from $5.3 million in July 2024.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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