ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: Inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) during first two months of the current financial year amounted to $72.8 million.

In July-August last year, the FDI stood at $50.8 million which means that the FDI flow during July-August 2002 is around 43.3 per cent higher than last year, figures compiled by the State Bank showed. The government has projected a target to fetch $1 billion FDI during the fiscal 2002-03.

However, on monthly basis the FDI in August 2002 amounted to $30.4 million against $42.4 million in the preceding month of July 2002, showing a decrease of 28 per cent.

The total FDI last year (July 2001-June 2002) had amounted to $484.7 million.

The United States was the top contributor during first two months of the current year with $33.2 million FDI, higher by 45.6 per cent when compared with last year.

The FDI inflow from Britain amounted to $9.2 million or 12.6 per cent higher than corresponding two months of the last year followed by $7.1 million from Saudi Arabia with 9.8 per cent higher than last year.

The FDI from UAE stood at $4.6 million during first two months of the current year, registering 6.3 per cent growth over last year. Investment from France and Japan amounted to $1.7 million and $1 million, respectively, higher by 2.3 and 1.4 per cent against last year.

The oil and gas emerged as the most attractive sector for FDI and fetched $28.9 million, registering 39.7 per cent growth.

Transport sector followed with $14 million FDI, up by 19 per cent when compared with July-August of last year. Investment in financial business and trade amounted to $5.1 million and $4.5 million, respectively, showing a growth of 7 per cent and 6.2 per cent.

Investment in the personal services stood at $4 million or 5.5 per cent higher than last year, while communication sector fetched $2.7 million or 3.7 per cent higher than last year.

The BoI officials said that number of visits from foreign investors had increased over the last couple of months which indicated that investment inflow would normalize in coming months.

They said that a couple of privatization transactions would also attract more foreign investors coupled with improving law and order situation, stabilizing economic outlook and establishment of a new political setup.

The BoI officials indicated that most of the foreign visitors were currently following the wait-and-see policy and would be making their investment decisions in the post-October situation.