ISLAMABAD, Mar.10 (Gwadar Pro) - “CPEC is a transformational and a fiscally responsible project. Pakistan and China are firmly committed to the timely completion of CPEC projects and making it a High-Quality Demonstration Project of BRI”, this was underscored by Director General China Division, Muhammad Mudassir Tipu in a panel discussion titled “Upscaling the Economic Activities of CPEC: Opportunities and Challenges”, held at Institute of Regional Studies, Islamabad.
Chairing the panel discussion, Dr. Ishrat Hussian, former Governor State Bank and Advisor to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity maintained that CPEC is misunderstood and misconstrued as a mere road project, when essentially it is a corridor. He said that investments in energy and infrastructure sectors have come through FDI, while the Chinese government has committed to providing grants of worth USD 1 billion for the socio-economic projects. He also underlined that the argument of the debt trap is false as the debt component of the project is financed through concessional rates of 2.34 percent.