‘CPEC to create over 700,000 direct jobs’

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is expected to create over 700,000 direct jobs between 2015 and 2030 and add 2 to 2.5 per cent points to the annual economic growth of the country, said Applied Economics Research Centre (AERC) Director Prof Dr Samina Khalid here on Sunday.

Dr Samina, delivering a lecture, said private consortia, under this initiative, would construct energy infrastructure worth over $33 billion to overcome Pakistan’s energy shortages, an official of the institution said.

One of the expected outcomes of the CPEC was the expansion of the economy from $229 billion to $1.30 trillion by 2025, Dr Samina added.

She said the project’s priorities included transport and communications, energy infrastructure, industrial parks, special economic zones, and people to people cooperation.

Dr Samina maintained that the CPEC activities were expected to galvanise Pakistan’s economy and propel it onto a higher growth trajectory by lowering transactions costs, improving productivity, encouraging research and development, and spurring innovation.

Talking about the major outcomes of the CPEC, she said some of likely outcomes of this mammoth project included the expansion of the economy from $229 billion to $1.30 trillion by 2025, escalation of the per capita income to $5000 by 2025, increase of exports from current level of less than $25 billion to $150 billion by 2025, and rise of national savings to 26 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by terminal year.

Some important economic features of this project made it important for Pakistan, which included reinforced investor confidence, besides achieving GDP growth above 7 per cent, accelerate economic activity led by construction sector, overcoming energy deficiency, infrastructure development, employment opportunities in Balochistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, establishment of new special economic zones alongside corridor, and that all provinces and regions would be equal beneficiaries.