ISLAMABAD: China has sought additional guarantees before sanctioning $6 billion loan for Main Line-1 (ML-1) project due to weakening financial position of Pakistan and also proposed a mix of commercial and concessional loan against Islamabad’s desire to secure the cheapest lending.
The issue of additional guarantees was raised during the third joint ML-1 financing committee meeting, held ten days ago, official documents said.
However, a senior Pakistani official involved in negotiations said that China did raise the additional guarantees issue during meeting but it did not make it part of the draft of the minutes shared with Pakistan.
The ML-1 project includes dualisation and upgrading of the 1,872km railway track from Peshawar to Karachi and is a major milestone for the second phase of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Read more…..
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he World Economic Forum has just published its annual Report on Regional Risks for Doing Business. Not surprisingly the coronavirus pandemic has left its mark. Based on a survey of over 12,000 business leaders from 127 countries the report has unemployment top of the list, just like previous reports, like the one from the International Labour Organization, massive job losses due to the pandemic are expected to negatively impact business for the next 10 years.