ISLAMABAD: Board of Investment (BoI) Chairman Dr Miftah Ismail has expre­ssed the hope that 2015 wou­ld be a better year for Pak­istan when pace of foreign investment in the country would pick up with improvement in the security situation for investors.

The present FDI inflow is insufficient, and with the provision of main infrastructure facilities, including supply of power and gas in addition to better security situation, foreign investment may witness an increase, the BoI chief said.

While foreign investors were making little investment, local investors were also shy of making the pace of capital formation slow, he said.

According to World Investment Report 2014 published by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows surged to $1.3 billion in Pakistan, while foreign investment is set to grow in industries, such as telecommunications.

It further said that while the FDI inflows were rising in Pakistan, the outward FDI flows were $237 million in 2013. FDI stock in 2013 was $27.6bn for inward and $1.7bn for outward stocks during the same year.

The report said that FDI surged due to rising inflows to services in 2013. The country recently held its first auction for 3G and 4G networks of mobile telecommunications. China Mobile was the winning bidder and now plans to invest $1.5 billion in Pakistan in the next four years.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2014