Over $1 Bln Foreign Investment Registered in March  
Pakistan Times Business & Commerce Desk

ISLAMABAD: The foreign investment in Pakistan continues increasing as in the month of March alone about $1 billion investment was recorded which takes the total figure of foreign investment to $5.56 billion, said Advisor to Finance Ministry Dr Ashfaq Hassan Khan.

Addressing a press conference here Thursday he said it was a significant indicator as the country’s economy kept swelling with each passing month.

Giving different and latest figures of economy Dr Ashfaq said remittance reached to $520 million while Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) touched the figure of $3.8 billion with 72 per cent increase.

He said all these achievements are directly related with fresh and new developments occurring on financial horizons.

These inflows can be seen in banking, telecom, energy, trading, textile, cement sectors, he added.

He said energy demand per annum reached to around ten per cent.

Giving details about Pakistan Development Forum he said its main theme is “Ensuring Demographic Dividends” with objectives to focus on transition and how to transform dividends.

He said it is a consultative body to assess current and future financial conditions.

The holding of such event would help in finalizing documentation process containing suggestions from all the stakeholders, he added.

Dr Ashfaq said in the previous Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) 1, the issue was targeted which resulted in its decline.

Now the emphasis in PRSP-II would be how to utilize this transition for the maximum benefits of countrymen, he added.

The Advisor said population control also played a key role in this success story.

Ratio of population growth which was once 3.1 per cent, has brought down to 1.86 per cent now, he added.

He said in 1998 consensus, the working age group constitutes about 51.1 per cent of the population but now it has reached to 57.2 per cent.

It is an evidence that per capita income has increased with sharp upsurge in demand and supply, and business expansion, he added.

To sustain this growth physical infrastructure is required to which the government is giving due importance, he added.

He also informed that a weekly press briefing about financial situation of the country would be held regularly.●