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By APD writer Muhammad Sohail
ISLAMABAD, Sept. 30 (APD) -- Healthy economic growth triggered by the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a project backed and funded by China, has increased consumer confidence in Pakistan, said the State Bank of Pakistan on Saturday.
A statement from the country’s central bank said that the consumer confidence increased in the wake of an improved economy and higher expectations for future economic growth due to heavy investments in multiple development projects across Pakistan.
The bank further added that it conducted a Consumer Confidence Survey during Sept. 5 to 9 and found “Overall, the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) increased by 5.07 percent compared to the previous survey held in July 2017.”
The increase in CCI is attributed to both current economic conditions index (CEC), which increased by 6.18 percent, and expected economic conditions index (EEC) that recorded a growth of 3.9 percent from its value in the previous survey.
However, the survey shows higher expected inflation compared to the previous poll for overall inflation and its sub-categories, including food, energy, and non-food-non-energy.
The participants of the survey were selected randomly across the country, said the bank.
The CPEC, a flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, was inaugurated by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Pakistan in April 2015. Under the CPEC a number of projects in the fields of energy, infrastructure and industrial parks, as well as Gwadar port are being built at a rapid speed.
Earlier in May this year, Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong said “Among the countries along the Belt and Road initiative, CPEC is one of the earliest, fastest and most effective projects. Over the past three years, 19 early-harvest projects are under smooth construction with a total contract amount of 18.5 billion U.S. dollars.”
Talking about the positive outcomes of the project, Sun said that CPEC projects cover all the provinces and regions of Pakistan being run by Chinese enterprises had employed over 60,000 Pakistani workers inside and outside the CPEC projects, an initiative which has started lessening unemployment in the country.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
