Pakistan:Investors terrorized -Pakistan lost around $18 billion

Pakistan has lost around $18 billion foreign and domestic investments in last three years due to terrorism and chronic energy crises, an official of Board of Investment said. The official told “Online” Saturday that the expected investment of about $18 billion of last 3 years did not come in Pakistan after investors cited the problems of terrorism and energy shortages. “Now government is making all-out efforts to build the confidence of foreign investors by removing the barriers that discourage investment in the country,” said the official, adding that terrorism and energy shortages have put long-off term investors. The official told that unstable law and order situation, political instability, corruption and inconsistent policies on part of government were also major impediments in way of promoting investment in the country. The official further told that the Board of Investment will now move ahead more rapidly for motivating local and foreign investors to invest in the country and through recently passed Special Economic Zones (SEZ) bill some of the investor countries like Korea, China and Japan were expecting to benefit from the scheme as soon as it became operational. According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) foreign investment into Pakistan fell 65.6 percent to $680.4 million during financial year 2011-12 and foreign direct investment fell 50.3 percent to $812.6 million.