Pakistan's external inflows stand at Rs524.5b

Pakistan's net external financing during first nine months (July-March) of current fiscal year increased to Rs 524.457 billion as compared to the net external financing of Rs 524.299 billion during same period of the year 2017-18.

According to detail issued by ministry of finance on Tuesday, under "project aid" Pakistan received Rs 250.267 billion while under "programme loans", the country got Rs 443.014 billion during JulyMarch 2018-19.

Similarly, through other loans, Pakistan received Rs 326.684 billion and through grants, an amount of Rs 16.283 billion was received during the period under review.

Through project loans and grants outside Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) Pakistan received an amount of Rs 3.746 billion.

Gross external financing stood at Rs 1.04 trillion while Pakistan paid Rs 515.537 billion as repayment of external debt compared to Rs 303.4 billion during same period of last year.

Moreover, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Pakistan stood at US$1.376 billion in July-April (2018-19) compared to the investment of $2.85 billion recorded during the same period, a year ago, showing a negative growth of 51.7%.

On year-on-year basis, the FDI also fell to $101.8 million against $227.5 million recorded during the same month of previous year, according to the data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday.

The country-wise data shows that net foreign investment from China posted a negative growth as it fell to $429 million during the period under review compared to the investment worth of $1.725 million recorded during same period of last year.

The foreign investment from United States plunged from $1,408 million in Jul-April (2017-18) to $75.7 million in same period of current fiscal year, while foreign investment from United Kingdom also decrease from $265 million to $160 million in first 10 months of current fiscal year. The FDI from United Arab Emirates, however, jumped from negative $0.8 million in the corresponding period of previous year to $83.6 million in the same period of current year.

From Turkey, the FDI increased to $57.7 million as compared to no investment made from Turkey during the same period of the preceding year, whereas investment from

Switzerland decreased to $26.5 million in the period under review compared to the investment of $64.7 million last year. Investment from Saudi Arabia also increased from $2.9 million last year to $16 million during July-April 2018-19.

Netherlands invested $67.5 million during the corresponding period of current year whereas during the same period last year, the investment was recorded at $86.5 million.

Investment from Hongkong also decreased to $132.7 million in July-April (2018-19) against the investment of $145.4 million made during same period of last year, whereas Germany's investment rose to $40.3m this year from $29.8 million last year.