ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 773 companies in June, a growth of 28 per cent compared to the corresponding month last year, raising the total number of registered companies to 87,622.

Around 77pc companies were registered as private limited, while around 21pc as single-member, 2pc as public unlisted, non-profit associations, foreign companies and limited liability partnerships.

Moreover, two foreign companies were also registered by the Karachi CRO.

Foreign investment has been reported in 39 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Syria, the UK and the US. The highest numbers of companies, that is 261 were registered in Lahore, followed by 255 and 153 registered in Islamabad and Karachi respectively.

The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta, and Sukkur registered, 30, 27, 17, 12, 10 and 8 companies respectively.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2018