Country's foreign investment fell 63.9 percent to $446.2 million in the first seven months of 2011/12 fiscal year because of a decrease in foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment, the central bank said on Wednesday. Foreign investment totalled $1.24 billion in the same period last fiscal year.

Foreign direct investment fell 40.7 percent to $593.9 million in the July-January period of 2011/12 fiscal year, from $1 billion in the same period last fiscal year, the State Bank of Pakistan said.

Pakistan's unstable security, a Taliban insurgency in the country's northwest and chronic power shortages have put off long-term investors, analysts say. At least 400 people were killed in July and August last year in violence in Karachi, and investors have been shunning the country's main stock exchange.

Foreign portfolio investment fell 162.9 percent with outflows of $147.7 million in the first seven months of 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with inflows of $234.8 million in the same period last year. (Reuters