Foreign investment was reported in 562 new companies 

ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 8,286 new companies during 2017, showing growth of 34 per cent when compared to the registration of the last financial year.

According to the annual report 2017 released by SECP, the new registration has raised the total number of registered companies to 80,700. The trend witnessed was that approximately 86% companies were registered as private limited companies, 11% were registered as single-member companies and, three percent were registered as public unlisted, association?s not-for-profit, trade organizations and foreign companies.

The services sector took a lead with the incorporation of 1,303 companies, followed by trading with 1,100, construction with 936, information technology with 773, tourism with 518, education with 254, food and beverages with 252, engineering with 225, real estate development with 224, fuel and energy 211, corporate agricultural farming with 190, textile with 173, pharmaceutical and transport with 166 each, communication with 158, auto and allied with 137, power generation with 123, healthcare with 121, broadcasting and telecasting with 103, paper and board with 101, and 1,052 companies in other sectors.

Foreign investment was reported in 562 new companies.

These companies have foreign investors from Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Panama, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the UAE, the UK and the US.

Moreover, 63 foreign companies from China, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UAE, the UK and the US have established places of business in Pakistan during the last fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the report stated that these companies are engaged in the fields of auto and allied, cable and electric goods, communication, construction, engineering, food and beverages, healthcare, services, power generation, trading, textile, transport, fuel and energy, information technology, insurance, steel and allied and other sectors.