MFA Spokesperson’s Remark on International Monetary Fund (IMF) offers emergency loans to Pakistan
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang’s Regular Press Conference on October 15, 2018
A: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a project co-built by the Chinese and Pakistani governments under the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. The choice of the projects and financing arrangement are decided by our two sides through equal-footed consultation. In fact, you may have noted that according to what is released about the debt structure by the Pakistani government, the debt incurred by CPEC makes up a very small proportion of Pakistan’s debt composition and it is not to blame for the current financial difficulty in Pakistan. I would like to clearly point out that the Chinese side is willing to join hands with Pakistan to continuously enrich and expand CPEC building and help the Pakistani side enhance its capacity for self-driven development. As a member of the IMF, China supports the organization in making an objective evaluation of Pakistan based on professionalism and earnestly helping it properly address the current difficulty. The relevant measures should not affect the normal bilateral cooperation between China and Pakistan.
Q: The IMF has already said that they will be scrutinizing the Chinese loans provided to Pakistan. And the US officials have indicated that they will also scrutinize the Chinese loans to Pakistan before the IMF takes any decision on this. Do you have any comment on this?
A: Recently there are many discussions over Pakistan’s debt issue and the financial difficulty it incurred. Like I just said, if we take a look at the country’s debt structure as released by the Pakistani government, the debt incurred by CPEC only constitutes a very small proportion of Pakistan’s debt composition and it is surely not to blame for the current financial difficulty in Pakistan. Officials of relevant department in the Pakistani government has already made this point very clear in recent remarks.As a member of the IMF, China supports the organization in making an objective evaluation of Pakistan based on professionalism and earnestly helping it properly address the current difficulty. Just as I pointed out, the relevant measures should not affect the normal bilateral cooperation between China and Pakistan.
