Inward foreign direct investment and aggregate imports: time series evidence from Pakistan

This study investigates the impact of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) on aggregate imports in Pakistan using the annual time series data for the period 1981 to 2007. The cointegration results suggest that there exists a unique significant positive long-run equilibrium relationship between inward FDI and aggregate imports in Pakistan. The respective parsimonious short-term dynamic error-correction model also confirms a significant positive short run relationship with high speed of adjustment. The causality result shows unidirectional causality running from inward FDI to aggregate imports in the country. The sensitivity analysis confirms that the results are robust.