http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...24-2-2006_pg5_1


Friday, February 24, 2006

Country likely to achieve $3b FDI target by March

By Arshad Hussain

KARACHI: The country is likely to achieve its $3 billion Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) target by March after settlement of the payment dispute with Etislat International against the sell-off of 26 percent share of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL).

“The country has received a total foreign investment of $1.627 billion in the past seven month (July-January 2005-06),” the data on State Bank of Pakistan web site said here on Thursday.

The total foreign investment had jumped over 168 percent in first seven month of this year compared with $606.9 million in 2004-05, the data said.


The foreign portfolio investment in the local bourses rose to $400.5 million in July-January 2005-06 compared with only $92 million in the same period last year. An analyst claimed that the portfolio investment had touched $440 million till February 20, 2006.

“The country is receiving an average inflow of $40- $50 million a month,” said Mohammad Sohail, director equities at Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. “The inflows coming from the USA is also continuously soaring up.”

The president and the prime minister are optimistic that the overall FDI would touch $3 billion in current fiscal year.

According to the news coming from Islamabad, a delegation of Etisalat International has finalized the payment scheduled against the sell-off of PTCL and the Privatization Commission would received $1.4 billion in 2-3 weeks. The remaining amount would be received in installments.

During the first seven month of 2005-06, Pakistan had received total FDI of $1.226 billion, and $400 million as portfolio investment, the SBP data said.

The portfolio investment from the USA has gone up by 497.5 percent to $298.2 million in July-Jan this year compared with $50 million in the same period last year. Investors from the UK withdrew $0.3 million this year against $12.1 million in the same period last year. The investment went up from the UAE to $50.7 million this year against $23.7 million.

The investment in the local bourses went up from the USA, the UK, Switzerland and Hong Kong, whereas investors from Japan and other countries withdrew some of their capital from the local markets.

Direct investment of the USA in Pakistan has gone up by 125 percent to $291 million in the July-Jan this year against $129.2 million in the same period last year, whereas the same investment of the UAE went up to $43.2 million in first seven months from $26.8 million.

Direct investment of the UK, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the USA, the Netherlands, South Korea, Singapore, China, Australia, Switzerland has surged in Pakistan, whereas investment from Hong Kong, Italy and Japan has declined. The country’s workers’ remittances registered an increase of $179 million or 7.89 percent in July-Jan 2005-06 to $2.446 billion against $2.267 billion in the same period last year.

Pakistan received an amount of $2,446.52 million as workers’ remittances during the first seven months of the current fiscal year (July 2005 – January, 2006) as against $2,267.52 million received in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

..After this i tend to believe that miracles do happen ...just few years back in 2001 FDI was just 150 millin USD...another bench mark achievement of this Government

what is worrying for is the fact that the investment from muslim and asian countries is much much lower then that from usa. This eans we are becoming dependent upon the usa economically, more then ever before.

Pakistan should do more to encourage saudi, emerates, kuweit, libya, egypt, indonesia, singapure, china, korea, japan etc. investments. The more interdependent upon muslims and asians we become the more independent of west we become. And that means freedom for us.

Similarly the flow of cash from workers is not increasing very much. That means our work force is not going out. And that is also no good sign. Foreign governments cannot stop oversees paks from sending money back home. And this is another area where we can become independent of others.

Pak should do something serious about it. We have large population lots of jobless, so why not export the jobless to other countries?

Holy mother of mary, $3 billion thats nearly 60% of india totoal FDI, and look at how small pakistan is compared to india.

How they managed that is a miricle, if trend continue we could see $6-7 billion FDI by 2010. Mashallah.

Was Tasneem Siddiqui personally present in Davos to see that Pakistan did not get a passing reference ???

And why do such reporters talk about our Golden past (60's) when Pakistani growth rate was high ? and these very reporters downplay our current successes ? Is it because they werent even born in the 60's and their elders told them about that era ? Or is it because they want to gain quick fame by saying bad things about their own country? May I ask whose side Tasneem Siddiqui is on ?

Let me assure you that given that the 1.4 Billion $ segment of Etisalat's privatization payments are made in the next two weeks, we will have 3 Billion $$$ invested in our country this year. Maybe even more as there are 4 months to go till the end of our current fiscal year.

To all those expats who dont have faith in Pakistan,

Dont just comment bad about Pakistan sitting from USA, Canada, Germany, Japan etc etc. Go to Pakistan yourself and see the miracles happening and then go back again in 2009 if you can. Pakistan will not be the slow paced turtle that you used to see.

Just Today:

200 Million $ FDI for Karachi Housing. Land already purchased by Sharjah Company. Click on this link.

You live in Karachi? Thats the most obvious answer that a bhindian says when he gets busted. Time to report you to the admins. ###### bhindian disguising as a Pakistani.

kureshi

CADET

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Kureshi the Cadet has already been banned so no need telling him things now, however, Increase in FDI is one indicator that foreigners endorse the "government's story".

For any other Pakistani or Indian or Troll, Please read:

56 pages of Pakistani Economic News. Click Here.