ISLAMABAD: Sheikh Amir Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Friday said that due to hike in taxes in budget 2017-18 on capital market, portfolio investment has reportedly declined by 50 percent during the first half of fiscal year (July-December 2017) and called upon the government to rationalize taxes on the capital market in the forthcoming budget that would facilitating inflow of FDI.
He said as per latest report of SBP, FDI has posted a decline of 2.8 percent during the first half of current fiscal year compared to same period of last year, which was not an encouraging sign for the economy.
In a statement issued here, he said FDI in December 2017 also witnessed a massive drop of over 71% as compared to the same month of 2016 which should be a cause of concern for the policymakers.
He said that for successful execution of CPEC project and to expand various sectors of the economy, Pakistan badly needed local and foreign investment.
However, he said that the declining trend in FDI would constrain the efforts of the government to improve the health of the economy and put it on the path of sustainable growth.