Pakistan’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the month of October stood at $317.4 million, showing a Year on Year (YoY) increase of over 150 percent as compared to $126.5mn FDI recorded in October 2019.

As per the latest data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the overall FDI during the ongoing fiscal year stands at $733.1mn, with FDI in October making up over 43pc of the share.

Country-wise, China emerged as the top investor in Pakistan in October as it invested $228.7mn, whereas, sector-wise the power sector was the top consumer of FDI as it took in $239m in the month of October.

Coming to the four-month period, the FDI from July to October 2021 stood at $733.1mn as compared to $672mn recorded in the same period last year, showing an increase of nine percent.

Meanwhile, the total foreign investment i.e. the sum of both Foreign Public Investment and Foreign Private Investment during the ongoing four-month period stood at $425mn showing a drop of over 64pc as compared to $1.12 billion recorded in the same period last fiscal year.

The drastic drop is attributed to the outflows in equities in portfolio investment of both Foreign Private Investment and Foreign Public Investment amounting to $161.2mn and $598.7mn, respectively, during the four months period.