Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif is seeking to boost growth to the highest about a decade after China announced its investment plans in the nation . Photo: Getty imagesLondon/Karachi: More than three quarters of $46 billion of planned Chinese-led investment in Pakistan will be implemented by next year as part of the world’s second-largest economy’s flagship Silk Road plan. “Out of this $46 billion, we have been so far able to energize about $35 billion,” Pakistan’s planning, development and reforms minister Ahsan Iqbal said in an interview in London. In September, Iqbal said a further $8 billion would be provided by China and the Asian Development Bank to update Pakistan’s dilapidated railway network. Iqbal played down security concerns that have plagued the investment plans after recent attacks in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan, which is the final road toward the flagship port of Gwadar.

Source: Mint November 25, 2016 03:25 UTC