Foreign Investment Rises To $4.37 Billion In FY14

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Foreign investment rises to $4.37bn in FY14
By Shahid Iqbal


KARACHI: Foreign investment rose to $4.377 billion in the previous fiscal year, the highest amount since 2008-09, the State Bank said on Tuesday.

In FY09, the country received a total foreign investment of $2.665bn.

However, the sudden rise in the total foreign investment was due to $2.1bn investment in the Eurobond. If this amount is deducted, the total foreign investment reduces to around $2.2bn, of which foreign direct investment was of $1.631bn. This is not a big change compared to FY2012-13's figure of $1.456bn.

It shows the country still has an image problem in the international market; though it responded enthusiastically to Eurobond mainly because of very high return.

The Eurobond narratives

Experts and economists believe that despite high return the selling of Eurobonds boosted the sentiment for Pakistan as bilateral and multilateral donors extended loans at reasonable rates.

The borrowing increased the foreign exchange reserves of the SBP to more than $9bn from $2.5bn a year ago.

As fears about Pakistan's ability to pay back loans disappeared, the IMF, World Bank and others encouraged to extend loans. Another major change was the strengthening of local currency against the US dollar as the rupee gained more than nine per cent in the second half (January-June) of the last fiscal year.

Higher reserves played a key role in the strengthening of economy, particularly they helped improve the balance of payments.

The IMF has recently reported positively for the economy while Moody's also upgraded its outlook for Pakistan's foreign currency government bonds to stable from negative.

Traders and industrialists believe that the recent military operation against terrorists in the north of Pakistan would help improve the country's image tarnished by the terrorism across the country.

However, the government has not yet succeeded to improve its capacity to deal with crises like energy shortage, terrorism and deteriorating law and order situation.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2014

Foreign investment rises to $4.37bn in FY14 - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

 

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It shows the country still has an image problem in the international market; though it responded enthusiastically to Eurobond mainly because of very high return.

Pakistan's "Image Problem" is a source of unending and continuing entertainment for me. Prophet Pervez Musharraf spent a lot of beggardollars of hiring a firm in the US to improve Pakistan's "image problem"

Here are some views about Pakistan's "image problem"
Pakistan’s image problem - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

Despite all the claims of Islamophobia, bias and international meddling in our affairs, there is nothing that stops Pakistan's military and civilian establishment from doing what they should be doing for the country's interests in the first place.

Does anyone, for example, tell us not to hold a census, not to punish murderers or not to ensure zero tolerance for those inciting violence and maintaining private militias, not to improve our policing or our pathetic educational infrastructure, not to redistribute wealth more equitably, not to tax those earning windfall revenues, not to reduce wasteful expenditures or reduce the military's burden on the economy, not to promote merit over nepotism, not to create spaces for cultural expression and rational debate, or not to take into consideration citizens' rights to livelihoods and a clean environment or cheaper alternatives while planning grandiose projects?

The problem lies not in our image but in ourselves. Fix that first and the image will take care of itself.

Pakistan's image problem | Blogs ARY NEWS

I heard one question that was repeated ad nauseam by the audience. They wanted to ask, "Why is Pakistan portrayed "negatively" in the world?" or "Why is Pakistan's image tarnished abroad?". I could understand the sense of emotional patriotism on part of the questioners and the difficulty with which the guest speakers often tackled these recurring questions.

Let me put it straight and clear, and in no uncertain terms. Something is terribly wrong with Pakistan, by most standards. It is not the "foreign media" or "Jewish Lobby" that is responsible of our "negative image". No. That is not the case. The "image" is formed by what the reality is. To quote from Shakespeare's drama "Hamlet", Something is rotten in the state of Pakistan.

Our reality is dark, it's bleak. It's not something to be proud of. How could we rationally ask International media to "pick only the rare positive stories" emanating from Pakistan and ignore the bulk of negative news that are coming from Pakistan.