KARACHI: The outflow of profits and dividends on foreign investments jumped by 108 per cent during the first ten months of the current fiscal year over the same period of the last fiscal year.

After the improvement of inflows, particularly higher remittances, the State Bank has eased the outflow of profits from the country. During the current fiscal year — FY25 — the outflow of profits was much higher than the previous year.

One of the main reasons was reportedly the influence of the IMF, which made possible the profit outflow on foreign investment.

The data issued by the State Bank on Monday shows that the outflow of profits during July-April FY25 jumped 108.7pc to $1.841 billion against $882 million a year ago.

Sector-wise data shows the highest amount was sent abroad for the power sector — $339.8m compared to $121m in the same period of last year.

The foreign investment in food sector also yielded very high profits as it received $291m during the first 10 months of FY25, compared to $109m during the same period of FY24.

Since financial institutions performed well during the current fiscal year, they sent abroad a total of $288m in profit, compared to $150m last year.

Other important sectors which received higher amount as profits were $109m for oil and gas exploration; $110m for telecommunications and $105m for the transport sector.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2025