Daily Times

Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) index in Pakistan grew by 43% in the past decade while indicating an exponential growth after commencement of energy projects under CPEC.

SEZs of CPEC are expected to substantially increase the index by 2030.

China Economic Net (CEN) reported it on Friday quoting the newly published report titled “CHINA’s 75-Year JOURNEY Breaking Myths & Inspiring Hope” by KTrade Securities Limited, a leading stock and commodity brokerage in Pakistan.

The report says, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) key project launched in 2013 under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is rated by the report as capitalizing on Pakistan’s geographical significance and improve the socio-economic conditions of Pakistan.

The report views that China’s economic growth in the past decades is of speed, consistency and inclusive of wide impact.

Talking about PRC’s story over the last 75 years, Ali Farid Khwaja, Chairman of KTrade Securities regarded it as for all emerging markets and all underdeveloped countries in the world.

“The reason is that China has broken a lot of the myths and shackles which many emerging countries especially believed in.

For example, one concept in most emerging markets is that we can never grow and catch up with the developed countries.

That is why people from India, Pakistan, Africa, etc. always choose to migrate to developed countries. China showed that in a very short time period that your economy can grow and catch up and become a developed country,” he told CEN.

“The most important reason is that Chinese economic growth drove 800 million people out of poverty,” he added.

“Unique”, is the word Ali Farid Khwaja described China’s economic rise. “Throughout history, the model of economic growth was always about resource extraction.

But, China’s growth was not driven by this sense like my victory has to be on your loss. It was all about domestic reforms, just driven by putting the existing resources which they already had into more efficient users,” he said.

From telecom equipment, LED to solar cell and electric vehicle, “China Model is, we will make it cheap and high capacity at the best technology level, and we will give it to everybody who wants it.

In fact, in certain cases, they even subsidized it for the rest of the world. You can just use your indigenous resources and achieve economic growth, which is equitable for the people,” Ali Farid Khwaja summarized the Chinese growth model in his sight.

Upon the impact of trade disputes between China and the U.S., the report points that in the long term, economic rationality will always prevail, and it won’t be possible to force other countries to make choices which are against their own benefit.

“China developed a symbiotic relationship with all the other countries especially the major power and major economic markets of the world. China believes that if the other country does well, then we will do well,” Ali Farid Khwaja added. Just as the report goes, the Chinese model of success worked by building synergistic relationships.

The report also mentioned that Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimated that CPEC could potentially increase Pakistan’s GDP by 2.5% by 2030 via infrastructure improvements, enhanced connectivity and creation of new industries.

In 2022, Pakistan’s exports to China grew by 14%, reaching a total of $3.6 billion, partly attributed to enhanced connectivity through CPEC, says the report.

Based on the report, China has shifted focus from a manufacturing-based economy to one driven by services and advanced industries, ensuring long-term stability and environmental sustainability.

China is making substantial investments in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, and renewable energy. The country’s focus on technology sectors such as solar energy and automation where it leads globally positions it to become a technology leader by 2030.

In fact, new economy sectors including automation, green energy and AI account for 55% of GDP growth, even though they represent only 20% of the total economy. “This early and aggressive shift towards these dynamic sectors positions China well for future growth,” the report revealed. Looking ahead, Ali Farid Khwaja said he is quite comfortable with the outlook on China’s economy. “China has already achieved the technological levels which can sustain economic growth.

The key battleground will be AI and technologies like quantum computing. I think that as long as China can continue on that, it can sustain a high economic growth rate for the long term,” he said.