Economics
China's Silk Road Push in Pakistan Edges Out U.S. Investments
- China FDI totalled $1.82b versus U.S’s $505m since July 2013
- Pakistan, U.S. relations have long been strained politically
This article is for subscribers only.
China is overtaking the U.S. as the largest direct foreign investor to Pakistan, with the South Asian nation increasingly favoring its neighbor’s “One Belt, One Road” trade route that’s funneling in billions of dollars and revamping decrepit infrastructure.
With relations frayed between the U.S. and Pakistan, China has been strengthening its ties to the nation of about 200 million people after it pledged two years ago to loan and finance about $55 billion in a so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. U.S. direct investment in Pakistan stood at $505 million from July 2013 through January this year, compared with $1.82 billion that came from neighboring China, according to central bank data.