BEIJING – A Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson Wednesday rejected some media reports that Pakistan had asked China for financial assistance owing to ballooning debts and a shortage of foreign reserves and believed that the Pakistani government would evolve an economic strategy to come out of this situation.
“The reports by the western media in this regard are totally false,” Hua Chunying said during her regular press briefing in Beijing.
She added the Chinese side has noted the shortage of foreign reserves in Pakistan but it believed that Pakistan would come out of this situation.
“We believe, Pakistan will try to evolve an economic strategy against all odds,” she said when asked to comment that Pakistan could ask for help from the IMF if it was not able to receive assistance from China.
When asked to comment whether the current financial situation could affect the completion of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, she said, in fact, Pakistani Finance Minister, Dr Shamshad Akhtar has already made a clarification on this matter stressing that Pakistan will continue construction of the CPEC projects.
The spokesperson said in recent years, the CPEC has played a positive role in helping Pakistan achieve a high economic growth and development.
Hua Chunying said the CPEC framework is supported by the people and government of Pakistan, adding, “We believe, this will not be interrupted by other factors.”
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/business/china-lends-1-billion-to-pakistan-to-arrest-declining-forex-reserves/
Last week, a UK-based media outlet claimed that China has released $1 billion in loans for Pakistan in order to boost the dwindling foreign currency reserves of the South Asian country.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves fell to $9.66 last week from $16.4 billion in June, shows the official data. Economic Analysts forecast that the country would turn to International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a fresh bailout.
However, the Ministry of Finance did not confirm the report.
Pakistan’s loans from China during the outgoing fiscal year ended in June have crossed $5 billion after the latest lending.
China lent Pakistan $1.5 billion in the wake of bilateral loans during the first ten months of the fiscal year, the media outlet said, adding that an amount of $2.9 billion was received from Chinese banks through commercial bank loans.
