5 Reasons Why CPEC Is A Road To Financial Doomsday For Pakistan

New Delhi: China Pakistan Economic Corridor is a point of debate among the leading economists, strategists, policymakers and analysts across the world. While the government of Pakistan and their sponsored voices praise the CPEC wholeheartedly, there is hardly anyone at the international level who can narrate its benefits for Pakistan. Dragon has played its entire game plan well where Pakistan is going to emerge as a net loser. Academicians believe that it is China which will largely be benefitted by CPEC at the cost of Pakistan. Pakistan is slowly moving towards a Financial doomsday and we have the following reasons to prove it-

1. Negative Economic Growth of Pakistan– Almost half of the time has passed and CPEC has not been able to contribute even a single penny towards the GDP of Pakistan. Neither there are indications to achieve so in the next 3-5 years. At the same time, Chinese debts are mounting and the re-payment of these loans and interests is causing holes in the Pakistan economy. As per a new report, the per day rate of debt on Pakistan is almost 14 Billion rupees, which will rise to 20 Billion Rupees per day by end 2022 and 35 Billion Rupees per day by end 2025. That too at a time when Pakistan’s economy is contracting drastically, and the actual growth of its GDP is going into the negative. At its start, CPEC promised several millions of jobs to poor Pakistanis with a lot of fanfare. Indeed, such steps are required for sustainable social growth, but this aspect failed miserably too. Till date, CPEC failed to generate even a single job except for casual labour for the construction of some of the projects. On the other hand, the Pakistan government is paying heavy disbursements through its nose to various early harvest projects owned by Chinese companies or their consortiums primarily in the power sector.

2. No accountability for delay/cost escalations – Except early harvest power projects, not even a single CPEC project was completed in time. Each and every project is running late with major cost escalations. Surprisingly, there is no one in entire Pakistan or China who can take ownership of these delays or cost escalations. All the major or minor projects of CPEC, as well as the entire CPEC authority, is governed by retired military officers who can not be questioned.
Corruption, no transparency and poor planning are another aspect of CPEC where a dirty syndicate of government officials, Military Commanders and few selected business conglomerates are siphoning off the money to buy assets in Europe, America and Middle east. At the same time, their Prime minister Imran Khan Niazi and his ministers continue to paint rosy pictures to their public without realising the reality themselves.

3. Ceding of strategic assets- The worst nightmare related to Chinese Debt Trap has already started. Pakistan has already ceded two islands and is in the process of ceding few more assets including entire Gwadar Free Trade Zone to China. In mid-2020, Pakistan also gave total mining rights at its Saindak Mines to China at a throwaway price of just 350 Million USD. This is dangerous for the sovereignty of any country and especially when we have a country armed with nuclear weapons, the condition becomes worse. It is a matter of grave concern not only for Pakistan or its neighbours but for the entire humanity and the world.

4. Military Aspects of CPEC– As we all understand that whatever happens in Pakistan- is governed by its military. They have been ruling the country ever since its inception in 1947 and will continue to do so as we do not see any silver lining in the clouds. Since 2014 when Mr Narendra Modi led government took power, India is not only growing on both economic and Military fronts but also showing aggressive manoeuvres. On the other hand, Pakistan is facing the wrath of US and other international powers because of its involvement in terror-related activities. Pakistan needs military hardware and at this point of time, China is the only source. Now since military support is at stake, no senior official of CPEC or Pakistan government ever dare to criticise CPEC and the entire system is forced to dance at Chinese tunes.

5. Industrial output in Chinese Hands– China is slowly acquiring Pakistani industries. As such there is negative growth in Industrial output of Pakistan in the last 5 years, handing over key industries to China will invariably put China in the driving seat of its economic growth. China is never going to use it for benefit of Pakistan but will make all efforts to achieve maximum profits in the least possible time. It will put a serious strain on Pakistan Economy and overall GDP. This is a suicidal mission. Interestingly it is Pakistan who has been sponsoring suicidal terror missions all over the world, today himself on a path of economic suicide.

Pakistan was already alienated in the world due to its deep-rooted involvement in terror activities. Now with things going out of its own hand, Pakistan is fast turning into a Chinese colony. China is known for its aggressive policies and debt-trap diplomacy. Their union has created a serious impact on foreign relations of Pakistan. Recently, Pakistan lost all its rapport among the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) especially Saudi Arabia and UAE. Likewise, there are several other countries who are now at loggerheads with Pakistan and one of the major reasons is the dirty association of China-Pakistan.

We have strong reasons to believe that Pakistan is moving towards an economic doomsday at a much faster pace than expected. At the same time, while it is facing internal issues of corruption, lack of transparency etc, there is no external country or agency which is coming to support its falling situation. Next 3-5 years are going to be crucial and we are going to witness a total collapse of Pakistan economy to the hands of China.