Pakistan rejects US claims on CPEC financing

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday rejected US diplomat Alice Wells’ claims that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is financed solely through loans or non-concessional financing with sovereign guarantees.

During the weekly media briefing on Thursday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui sought to set the record straight about a growing impression that Pakistan's economy is under tremendous burden from the Chinese debt. "The CPEC debt amounts to $4.9 billion which is not even 10 percent of the country's total debt," she explained.

Farooqui said that the 7,000MW CPEC power projects worth $12.4 bn "have reached completion" and that the completion of all other CPEC projects are the government’s top priority.