Gone are the days when Pakistan wallowed in the then rising pool of foreign direct investment. Gone is the sheen of the local banking and telecom sectors - the saturation of banking and telecom has dampened investor interest. And gone is the hope, at least for now, that the ongoing year would be better than the last in terms of FDI.
The latest FDI numbers released by the State Bank of Pakistan speak for themselves. FDI inflows from the European Union decreased 28 percent to $103 million in the four months ending October, while that from the US declined 43 percent to $75 million.
While the falling FDI from both EU and the US can be attributed to troubles in their own economies, declining FDI from the latter also speaks volumes of the Pak-US relationship.
At the government level, there are talks that the US is Pakistans friend. But seen from the view of US private investments in Pakistan in the year to-date, these talks appear, by and large, exaggerated.
In fact, the ratio of American FDI in Pakistan to total FDI inflows has gradually eased in the last few years - at a time when the Obama administration has been expressing a renewed sense of inter-dependence and warmth between the two sides.
Another important clue in the latest FDI data is that developing economies have perhaps fared better than the developed.
SBP data show, that though capital flows from the developing economies have maintained their share over the last many years, they accounted for nearly half of the investment inflow in the Jul-Oct period (FY11), up from 10 percent in the same period last year.
An important thing to note is that despite President Zardaris quarterly visits to China, FDI inflows from China were almost negligible in the Jul-Oct period. Instead, inflows from the Asias smaller engines, Hong Kong and Singapore, more than doubled to $82 million during this period.
In light of these trends, two things top the things-to-do list of Pakistans government officials: Firstly, integrate, the coordination of the finance ministry, foreign affairs, and the Board of Investment, so that Pakistans status as Americas non-NATO ally and President Zardaris too frequent visits to China do not end up as unutilised opportunities.
Second, beef up security in the country, and amicably resolve thorny issues, like the Reko Diq project, without compromising the countrys national interests to ensure that FDI inflows in the much-needed real sector avenues - like power, oil and gas, etc - can be increased substantially.
These may not be able to help boost FDI in the current year, but hopefully, in the years ahead. Otherwise, further saturation of the easy-come-easy-go services sector might just dry FDI inflows even more.