ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recorded a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of $214 million in August, reflecting a 50.7% increase compared to $142 million in the same period last year, according to the latest data from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
On a month-to-month basis, FDI in August rose from $136 million in the previous month. Cumulatively, during the first two months of FY25, FDI reached $350 million, marking a 55.6% increase compared to $225 million in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the SBP also reported good news of the current account surplus of $75 million in August. This follows a current account deficit of $246 million in the previous month and $152 million in August 2023.
Overall, the current account deficit for the first two months of FY25 was $171 million, showing a significant improvement of 80.9% from the $893 million deficit recorded in the same period of FY24.
In August, total exports rose by 0.9% to $3.11 billion compared to $3.08 billion in the same month last year, and increased by 3.4% from $3.01 billion in the previous month. Total imports for August grew by 9.7% to $5.62 billion, compared to $5.12 billion in August 2023, though they fell by 0.5% from the previous month.
As a result, the trade deficit in goods and services widened by 23.1% year-on-year to $2.51 billion, but narrowed by 4.9% on a monthly basis. Cumulatively, the trade deficit in the first two months of FY25 rose 19.0% to $5.14 billion, compared to $4.32 billion in the same period last year.
During the first two months of FY25, exports increased by 5.7% year-on-year to $6.12 billion, while imports rose by 11.4% to $11.26 billion, compared to $10.11 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
The SBP data also showed that workers’ remittances in August surged by 40.5% to $2.94 billion, up from $2.1 billion in August 2023. However, on a monthly basis, remittances fell by 1.7% from $3 billion in the previous month.
Cumulatively, remittances in the first two months of FY25 amounted to $5.94 billion, a 44.0% increase from $4.12 billion in the same period last year.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
