Impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on GDP: A Case study from Pakistan

This research study is related to FDI and GDP and the main aim of this research study is to validate the relationship between them. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is considered as a growth accelerating component that has received a great attention in developed countries even in developing and less developed countries during recent years. Now FDI has greater importance in closed economy. FDI benefits any economy in terms of technology, skilled labor and skills transfer to the host countries. For data collection, 30 year data from 1983 to 2012 was collected and the cobb-Douglas Production function is used to test the relationship. Our research variables are Gross Capital Formation (K), Labor (L), Health Expenditure (H), FDI and openness to trade in export oriented economy (OP*FDI). We have followed the Bhagwati’s hypothesis that was: FDI has greater impact on GDP in the export oriented economy. For data analysis, we have examined the descriptive statistics, correlation and regression model. For this we incorporate the production function in regression model. In brief, our results show that there is a positive relationship between FDI and GDP in Pakistan. But, Pakistan has not sufficient flow of FDI during past decades. And main point to consider which is evident through statistics and results is that there is greater impact of FDI in the open trade policy regimes. It is also concluded that FDI impact may be situation and culture related. So, the extent of FDI economic benefits cannot be predicted. Keyword: FDI; GDP; Labor; Capital; Export Promotion policy; Cobb-Douglas production function