BEIJING: Pakistan has emerged as a major beneficiary of Belt and RoadInitiative since it helped the country to improve its macroeconomicconditions and maintain a momentum of rapid growth during the last fiveyears.
According to a report, published by *China Economic Net*, over the pastfive years, Pakistan’s GDP grew by an average of 4.77%, especially in the2017-2018 fiscal year when Pakistan’s GDP grew by 5.8% — highest growthratio in the past 13 years.
Pakistan’s annual foreign direct investment grew from US$650 million toUS$2.2 billion, and the per capita annual income rose from US$1,334 toUS$1,641.
CPEC has solved the problem of limited investment capacity caused byinsufficient savings and shortage of foreign exchange in Pakistan andprovided a high-quality source of impetus for Pakistan’s economicdevelopment.
As of January 2019, CPEC included 9 completed early harvest projects and 13projects under construction, with a total investment of US$19 billion. Itdrove Pakistan’s economic growth by one to two percentage points every yearand created 70,000 jobs in Pakistan.
The Chinese government provided US$5.874 billion in concessional loansto Pakistan, with a consolidated interest rate of only 2%, far lower thanthe average interest rate. The Chinese government also provided US$143million in interest-free loans for the Gwadar East-Bay Expressway projectand free assistance for some livelihood projects in Pakistan.
According to the report, CPEC has played a flagship leading anddemonstration role in the “Belt and Road” construction. It has become aplatform for all-round pragmatic cooperation between China and Pakistan.
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China’s support also helped a lot to overcome its economic crisis. Theelectricity gap was costing Pakistan an annual average loss of US$13.5billion in GDP, according to a study by PwC in 2012.
CPEC has regarded the alleviation of energy shortage in Pakistan as one ofthe important areas of construction since its launch. Currently, 12projects with a total installed capacity of 7,240 MW have been commenced orput into operation.
Gwadar Port has taken on a new look in the past five years. The port roads,storage yards, loading and unloading equipment, seawater desalination, oilsupply and port monitoring facilities have been further improved.
More than 30 Chinese and Pakistani enterprises, including hospitality,banking, insurance, financial leasing, logistics, overseas warehousing,grain and oil processing, fishery processing and home appliance assembly,started working at the free zone. The direct investment exceeded RMB3billion.
These facts were particularly highlighted at a seminar, recently arrangedby the *China Economic Net*.
