Foreign companies’ repatriation of profits and dividends rose to $694.3 million in seven months of the financial year 2023-24, up by 215 percent year-on-year (YoY) from $220.5 million in the same period last year.
In January 2024, this figure also saw a 44x rise to reach $126.6 million compared to just $2.9 million in SPLY, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan.
The Petroleum Refining sector had the highest payments on total foreign investments, totaling $126.4 million in 7MFY24, up 613x compared to $0.2 million in the same period last year.
Profit repatriation from the Food sector clocked in at $85.1 million during the period in review, compared to $0.7 million in foreign investments in SPLY.
Outflows from the Financial Business sector totaled $83.4 million in the 7 months and $21.9 million in January 2024. Meanwhile, payments from the Power sector clocked in at $91.6 million during 7MFY24 and $33.9 million in January.
The Chemicals sector returned $30.3 million in 7MFY24 and $0.7 million in January 2024 in profits to their overseas outlets.
Notably, higher earnings in multiple sectors allowed overseas companies to repatriate higher returns.