Rejecting misleading comments on Chinese investments in Pakistan, the latter’s economic affairs secretary Noor Ahmed recently said the country’s total foreign debt is $106 billion and Chinese loan accounts for a mere 10-11 per cent of the total foreign debt, whereas the remaining is from other sources like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Paris Club.
China is investing $62 billion in Pakistan through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The multi-billion dollar project has been termed as a ‘debt-trap’ for Pakistan by many quarters.Rejecting misleading comments on Chinese investments in Pakistan, the latter's economic affairs secretary Noor Ahmed recently said the country's total foreign debt is $106 billion and Chinese loan accounts for a mere 10-11 per cent of the total foreign debt, whereas the remaining is from other sources like the International Monetary Fund and Paris Club.#
Though CPEC, China is building infrastructure in Pakistan to save its economy and to build its infrastructure, some of the money coming in the country is purely an investment, some interest-free loan, and others on very easy and simple terms, Ahmed told a news agency.
Hitting back at CPEC critics, Pakistan's ministry of planning development and reform said in a statement last year that China stepped forward to support Pakistan's development at a time when foreign investment had dried up, and economic activities were being crippled by energy shortages and infrastructure gaps. (DS)
ALCHEMPro News Desk – India
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