Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has shown great concern over the sharp decline of more than 54 percent in foreign direct investment (FDI) during the first seven months of the current fiscal year, which will put negative impact on the growth of economy. It called upon the government to take urgent remedial measures to reverse this trend for attracting more foreign investment in the country.

FDI stood at $1.17 billion in July-January period of current fiscal year, as compared to $2.59 billion in same period of last fiscal year, 2008-09, registering a decline of $1.42 billion.

Chairing a meeting of businessmen, Zahid Maqbool, President ICCI said that FDI is now considered an important source of development for a country and government should accord high importance to encouraging foreign investors for accelerating the pace of country’s economic progress.

He said for this purpose, all key issues including power shortage, poor infrastructure, law & order situation etc. should be tackled on priority basis as these factors have mostly contributed to the massive decline in the FDI.

Zahid Maqbool said that government can better cope with the problems of poverty, unemployment, fiscal deficits and slow pace of development by attracting investment as more FDI will create jobs, improve productivity, promote businesses, push up forex reserves and strengthen the economy.

He said though Pakistan offers many benefits to investors like cheap labor, 100 percent repatriation of equity & dividends and high returns on investment. However, government should ensure consistency in its policies to attract foreign investment.

Businessmen said that Pakistan is a big market for producers and many sectors of the economy including oil & gas, power generation, agriculture, pharmaceutical, infrastructure development etc. offer lucrative investment opportunities to foreign investors. But due to prevailing situation, our country is not attracting desired level of investment in these sectors, they added.

They said that many countries including China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia & UAE etc. have achieved phenomenal economic growth by attracting foreign investment and Pakistan can also achieve similar benefits by creating a conducive environment for investment. Karim Aziz Malik & Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, Vice Presidents of ICCI were also present in the meeting.