KARACHI: Despite the political crisis which affected all segments of life including business, the outflow of profits and dividends on foreign investments increased during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) latest report issued on Thursday revealed that the outflow of profits and dividends increased by 11.5 per cent, or $152 million, to $1.464 billion during the July-April period from $1.312bn in the same period last year.

The higher outflows indicate better performance of the economy, which is expected to expand at 5.97pc in the outgoing fiscal year.

The financial business (banks) recorded the highest outflow of profit and dividends at $251.5m in 10MFY22 against $309m in the same period of FY21.

The power sector showed tremendous growth in its profits as the outflow rose to $187m in 10MFY22 compared to $38.8m in the same period last year. The largest share was from thermal power which was $178.6m against $25.6m in 10MFY21.

The outflow from the food sector was $152m in 10MFY22, however, it was significantly lower than the last year’s $221m.

The communication sector also shared the same amount of $152 but it was higher than last year’s profits outflow of $124m. Out of this total, profits of telecommunications were $112m against $104m last year.

The outflow of profits from oil and gas exploration was slightly rose as it was $109.5m compared to $107.6m during the same period of last year.

The inflow of foreign investment during 10MFY22 could not improve but the profits outflow from all sectors rose.

The chemical and transport sectors saw an outflow of $105m and $95m, respectively, during the period under review.

The country has not been able to attract bigger sums of foreign investments for the last many years mainly because of the low growth pattern of the economy while the pandemic further destroyed the chance for improvement.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2022