SIFC Investment Pipeline: From Plans to Results

US$40 billion in an investment pipeline is a lot. However, the biggest challenge for Pakistan is not to find projects but to turn projects into bankable investments, financial closures and real capital inflows, and productive capacities. In my opinion, what is important about the news of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) is not the volume of the pipeline, but how Pakistan can finally boost its investment-conversion ratio.

The news report says that SIFC has been working on a potential investment pipeline of around $40 billion in the industry, oil and gas, railways, roads, power, telecom, IT, pharmaceuticals, tourism and agriculture sectors. The National Assembly committee was also told that there were bottlenecks in the federal-provincial coordination process which initially prevented investment proposals, and that regulatory, financial and administrative issues still need to be addressed.

The key thing to remember is that a pipeline isn’t an investment. Data from the State Bank reveal that total net FDI inflows into Pakistan rose to US$4.28 billion in FY2025 and US$3.57 billion in FY2026, with net direct investment of US$2.49 billion and US$1.64 billion, respectively. So, the $40B is not just $40B of foreign funds that are committed, it’s $40B of potential opportunities. The policy question is then: how far do you think you can get from identification to financial close to production?

The areas of weakness are three-fold. The first gap is an investment-conversion gap. The pipeline projects reported range from being at potentially very different stages of preparation, financing and implementation. If all identified opportunities are considered the same type of investment commitments, then progress is overstated.

The second is a gap related to institutional coordination. The parliamentary briefing admits that the federal and provincial response and coordination are delayed. This is where investment facilitation should bring value: by cutting transaction costs, speeding up the time it takes for approvals, and allowing for more stable administrative procedures. There is international evidence for this: the OECD investment framework considers investment facilitation as an integral component of a wider investment climate that includes taxation, competition, infrastructure, human capital and public governance.

Third, there’s a competitiveness gap. The same parliamentary committee used the forum to discuss the sustainable attainment of the US$60 billion export goal by 2030 in the backdrop of high energy and other input costs, and limited monetary conditions and taxation. The World Bank also lists electricity costs, regulatory issues, tax reforms and the state’s economic footprint as some of the longer term challenges to investment and productivity in Pakistan.

To overcome these challenges, the five practical Recommendations are called for:

1. SIFC should develop a project-stage investment dashboard. Every project should be clearly marked as identified, feasibility ready, investor committed, approved, financially closed, disbursed and operational. This will be to replace the headline pipeline values with measurable conversion indicators. The approach is in line with OECD Investment facilitation principles, including clear investment procedures and good investor facilitation throughout the investment process.
2. Ministry of Finance, State Ministry of Planning and provincial governments should set strict timelines for approvals. In the future, SIFC should be more of an inter-departmental coordination mechanism, with issues that are not solved automatically passed up the chain of command. The Rwanda Development Board model shows how to integrate promotion with a one-stop facilitation role.
3. Prioritisation of a project should be done based on economic additionality, not headlining value. The potential to export, import substitution, domestic value addition, employment, technology transfer, and fiscal impact or foreign-exchange sustainability should be evaluated for each major project in SIFC and the Board of Investment. OECD evidence highlights that FDI is more likely to have a positive impact on development when it fosters productivity, skills, innovation and local economic linkages.
4. Investment facilitation should not be an ad hoc measure, but a permanent institutional reform for Pakistan. An integrated single window system, common approvals, regulatory needs that are available online and proactive investor follow-up should be standard government practice. The UAE’s recent investment facilitation framework offers relevant instances of integrated digital investment portals and end-to-end investor services.
5. Last, the government should be able to separate investment financing from foreign direct investment. As demonstrated by the projects in the list, this distinction matters greatly: the project cost reported is currently around US$6.68-6.80 billion; several multilateral institutions are involved in project financing. The following should thus be reported separately: Project value, External borrowing, Equity investment and FDI.

Investment is required by Pakistan and the SIFC pipeline has the potential to become a significant forum for raising investment. However, success or failure of this effort will not be defined by the pipeline’s cost of US$40 billion or even more. It will depend on the amount of capital that can be channelled to financially viable projects, the speed at which these projects are put into operation and if they enhance productivity, exports, employment and foreign-exchange capacity. The goal of the strategy should then be to improve the conversion rate instead of increasing the size of the pipeline. Pakistan doesn’t require another big investment figure, a system that converts opportunities into productive assets.

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*The writer is an Urban Economist from Pakistan, currently based in the Middle East, writes on urban economic development, macroeconomic policy, and strategic planning. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Government College University, Lahore. Email: dr.moheyuddin@gmail.com | X Handle: @moheyuddin