Daily Times

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday emphasized that propaganda regarding Pakistan’s debt obligations relating to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are not based on facts.

“As we have said in the past, Pakistan’s total public debt relating to CPEC projects is a small percentage of its total debt,” the spokesperson said in response to a question at a daily press briefing. An opinion article in The New York Times had claimed that Pakistan was mired in a deep economic crisis that it could not climb out of partly because of the need to pay billions of dollars in loans to China for infrastructure and other projects.

In response to a question about the said article, the spokesperson further said the public debt obtained from China has longer maturity periods with low interest rates. “The claims made by some commentators, including in the article that you mentioned in your question, regarding Pakistan’s debt obligations relating to CPEC, are therefore not based on facts,” the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson underlined that CPEC is a transformational project that has contributed positively and transparently to Pakistan’s national development. “It enjoys support and popularity in all provinces of Pakistan and across the political divide in Pakistan. We also believe that regional economic connectivity will provide a critical stimulus for creating broad based growth across the region,” she further said. The CPEC is a long-term project that has helped address development gaps in energy, infrastructure, industrialization and job creation, she concluded.