CHINA-PAK ECONOMIC CORRIDOR FLOPS, AS BRI INVESTMENTS DIP

China has held back its CPEC investment in Pakistan by 74% in 2023, compared to 2022.

- ABHINANDAN

Lack of return on investments, delays in completion project and security issues have led to China pulling back its investment in Pakistan by as much as 74% in 2023, when compared to 2022 as part of its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a part of the much larger Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

As of today, 151 countries are a part of the BRI, with Pakistan being among the first seven countries that had joined this grouping when it was launched in 2013.

As per a recent report published by the Green Finance & Development Center, Fanhai International School of Finance (FISF), Fudan University, Shanghai, China, which provides independent research, advisory and capacity building on green finance and investments with a focus on China, the cumulative BRI engagement since the announcement of the BRI in 2013 breached the US $1 trillion mark to reach US $1.053 trillion in 2023, out of which about US $634 billion was in construction contracts and US $419 billion in non-financial investments.

Breaking it down, the report has said that China's financing and investment are now spread across 61 BRI countries in 2023, with 37 countries receiving investments and 45 countries getting construction related engagement.

The country with the highest construction volume in 2023 was Saudi Arabia, with about US $5.6 billion (up from $2.6 billion in 2022), followed by Sri Lanka (US $4.5 billion), Tanzania (about US $3.1 billion) and UAE (US $2 billion).

Regarding BRI investments, Indonesia was the single largest recipient with about US $7.3 billion in investments, followed by Hungary (US $4.5 billion) and Peru (US $2.9 billion) 19 countries saw a 100% drop in BRI engagement compared to 2022, including Kenya, Myanmar, Turkey.