Foreign direct investment in Pakistan hits 6-month high.

Pakistan achieved a six-month high foreign investment in different productive sectors of the economy in December 2018 after the country finished a year-long exercise of letting the rupee depreciate against the US dollar to create an equilibrium. Foreign direct investment (FDI) increased 17percent to $319.2 million in December 2018 compared to $272.8 million in the same month last year, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on Wednesday. This is also for the second consecutive month that the FDI has continued to surge on a month-on-month basis.

"The pending rupee devaluation was one of the biggest concerns of foreign direct investors. Now when Pakistan has addressed the concern, it has regained foreign investors' trust on the country," Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) Secretary General M Abdul Aleem told.

The SBP has devalued the rupee by a whopping 32percent in the last 13 months to Rs138.90 to the US dollar on Wednesday. Besides, the political uncertainty linked to the July 2018 general elections has come to an end and investors have gradually built trust on the recently installed government in the country as well, he added. In the recent months, the foreigners squeezed investment in wait for clarity on...