Foreign investment in Pakistan doubles at $2.2 bln in 2005 ( fiscal year )

[UnderEstimated]

Foreign investment in Pakistan doubles at $2.2 bln in 2005: WB
Khalida Mazhar 'Pakistan Times' US Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON (US): In Pakistan, privatization and resource-related FDI led to a doubling of foreign investment from $1.1 billion in 2004 to $2.2 billion in 2005. This is stated in World Bank's 2006 Global Development Finance Report released Tuesday. Pakistan's GDP growth in 2005 was estimated at 7.8 percent.

The report adds that private capital flows to South Asia reached a record $23.6 billion in 2005, up from $9.7 billion in 2000. This growth was largely driven by India, which received the majority of capital flows to the region. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in South Asia rose to $8.4 billion in 2005, an increase of $1.2 billion from in 2004. In India, investment rose in industries such as cement, sugar, plastics and rubber, and hotels.

GDP growth in South Asia in 2005 accelerated to an estimated 7.7 percent: 7.8 percent in Pakistan, 13.8 percent in Afghanistan, 8 percent in Bhutan, and 8 percent in India.

GDP growth in Sri Lanka slowed to 4.1 percent, as strong service sector growth failed to completely offset the negative impact of the December 2004 Tsunami. Slower growth in Bangladesh was tied to flooding, while political strife in Nepal cut into tourism, slowing GDP growth to 2.5 percent.

The 2006 Global Development Finance Report adds that net private capital flows to developing countries reached a record high of $491 billion in 2005, driven by privatizations, mergers and acquisitions, external debt refinancing, as well as strong investor interest in local-currency bond markets in Asia and Latin America.

The surging flows, including record bank lending and bond issuance, among others, coincided with 6.4-percent economic growth in the developing world last year, more than double the 2.8-percent growth in developed countries.

"These increased capital flows reflected greater confidence in the economic prospects of several developing countries," said François Bourguignon, World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. "Countries are benefiting from improved global market conditions and investment climates, while closer global financial integration is posing difficult challenges to policymakers in both developed and developing countries to sustain economic growth and financial stability."

In 2005, as in the recent past, portfolio equity investments remained concentrated in major emerging markets. The Asia region continued to account for the lion’s share (about 63 percent) of total portfolio equity flows. Portfolio equity investments in India hovered at $12.2 billion, up from $8.8 billion in 2004.

The sharp rise in private flows to developing countries came despite uncertainties caused by high oil prices, rising global interest rates and growing global payments imbalances. Private debt flows to developing countries rose to an estimated $192 billion, up from $85 billion in 2003, driven by abundant global liquidity, steady improvement in developing-country credit quality, lower yields in rich countries, and expansion of investor interest in emerging market assets.

Many developing countries have received credit-rating upgrades to accompany record-low spreads on their bonds, enabling them to raise a record $131 billion in bond issues in 2005, up from $102 billion in 2004.

These gains reflect estimated GDP growth of 6.4 percent in low- and middle-income countries in 2005, buoyed by China and India, whose output grew, respectively, by 9.9 and eight percent.

Excluding these two countries, growth in other oil-importing developing countries was 4.3 percent, down from 5.7 percent in 2004. Growth is expected to exceed five percent through 2008 in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, and close to four percent in Latin America."

"Managing the very strong growth of the past few years and ensuring that an inflationary spiral or unsustainable external deficits do not develop, represents a serious challenge for the region," said Shantayanan Devarajan, World Bank Chief Economist for the South Asia Region. "With higher oil prices and other external shocks, forward- looking monetary and fiscal policies are in order to avoid overheating and a hard landing."

Economic activity in the region is projected to slow in 2006 through to 2008 as private consumption demand eases to a more sustainable pace in response to a tightening of monetary and fiscal policies. The report forecasts South Asia to grow at 6.8 percent in 2006 and 6.5 in 2007.

Weaker global demand is projected to slow export growth and although consumer demand is expected to decelerate, continued robust investment demand should keep imports expanding faster than exports.

"High oil prices, rising interest rates and building inflationary pressures are expected to restrain growth in most developing regions over the next two years, but these regions are still expected to outperform high-income economies," said Hans Timmer, manager of the Bank’s Global Trends team, which produced the economic outlook section of the report.

"While current account deficits in developing countries—as a whole—are close to balance, deficits in oil-importing countries have increased substantially, reflecting both higher oil prices and, in several cases, unsustainably rapid growth."

The surge in capital flows also reflects rising trade flows and financial integration among developing countries.

South-South trade rose to $562 billion in 2004, up from $222 billion in 1995, and in 2004 accounted for 26 percent of developing countries’ total trade. South-South FDI also rose, reaching $47 billion in 2003, up from $14 billion in 1995, and in 2003, accounted for 37 percent of developing countries’ total FDI.

"While these South-South flows are a relatively small share of total private flows, they have the potential to change the face of development finance, particularly if growth in developing countries continues to outpace that in the developed countries," said Mansoor Dailami, lead author of the 2006 Global Development Finance report.

Much South-South FDI originates with middle-income country firms, and is invested in the same region, for example, Russian and Hungarian firms investing in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and South African companies investing elsewhere in southern Africa. About half of China’s FDI, however, went to natural resources projects in Latin America.

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