Pakistan's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) fell 43 per cent to USD 59 million in July from USD 103.8 million a year ago, local media reported citing central bank data.
Pakistani newspaper The News International reported that the FDI witnessed a 78 per cent decline on a month-on-month basis. It amounted to USD 271 million in June.
State Bank of Pakistan's data showed that the financial sector attracted USD 27.7 million in FDI from global investors in the first month of this fiscal year, which was lower when compared to USD 36 million in the corresponding month of last year, as per The News International.
It further stated that the investment in the gas and exploration sector dropped to USD 2.7 million from USD 19 million.
Direct investment in the communications sector also fell to USD 10.6 billion from USD 14.9 billion.
However, the investment in the power sector rose to USD 30.6 million in July from USD 26.5 million a year earlier.
Meanwhile, investment flows from the UAE increased to USD 13 million from USD 3 million, and investment by Swiss firms rose to USD 12 million from USD 11 million. However, FDI from China fell to USD 5 million from USD 3 million.
Pakistan is grappling with a crippling economic crisis and the deepening political turmoil is spawning doubts about the government's ability to make tough decisions going forward and tackle the longstanding structural issues of the economy responsible for the recurring balance-of-payments crisis.
Amid this, Pakistani citizens are taking their financial woes online and criticizing the country's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) top leader Maryam Nawaz for doing nothing for the relief of the masses.
Recently, a video of a Pakistani woman surfaced, describing the skyrocketing prices of medicines, groceries and electricity in the country, especially in Karachi city and slamming Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz.
The video was shared by Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir in which a woman identified as Rabia from Karachi could be seen slamming the government after skyrocketing inflation. The woman asks the government whether she should end her children's lives by not feeding them anymore, The News International reported.
( With inputs from ANI )
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