‘Chinese loan accounts for 11pc of foreign debt’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s total foreign debt is about $106 billion with Chinese loan accounting for a mere 10-11 per cent of the aggregate, while the remaining 89-90pc is from other sources such as the International Monetary Fund, Paris Club, and other western organisations, Economic Secretary Noor Ahmed said.

China has simultaneously loaned to Pakistan and invested in the country, with more planned in the next phase of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, he told Xinhua.

“Through CPEC, Pakistan is utilising its own natural resources to generate electricity which will gradually reduce the country’s dependency on imported fuels,” said Syed Hassan Javed, Director of the Chinese Studies Centre, School of Social Sciences and Humanities at National University of Science and Technology.

In a recent talk with Xinhua, Muhammad Muzammil Zia, policy head of job growth and human resource development in CPEC Centre of Excellence, an Islamabad-based think-tank, also said that that CPEC has created 70,000 direct jobs in Pakistan and is likely to create 1.2 million more under its presently agreed projects, which will help poverty eradication in the country.

According to Moody’s, ongoing implementation of CPEC projects is likely to contribute 9-10pc of Pakistan’s GDP in the 2018-2019 while Deloitte said it would add up to 2.5 percentage points to the country’s growth rate.