Gwadar Port Project faces new hurdles with deteriorating economy
Development of Gwadar projects now face un-foreseen uncertainties as the ongoing economic crisis and political instability in Pakistan is hitting Chinese investment sentiments. Of late, China, the sole investor in the Gwadar projects is hesitating to invest. Further the Chinese investors now seeks to maintain their bank accounts in RMB in Gwadar Free Zone without converting money into local currencies in the wake of fast depreciating Pak currency rupee (PKR).
The depreciation of PKR is the most important reason that is deterring Chinese investment. The recovery in the value of PKR following the receipt of IMF’s next tranche loan was short lived. Pakistani currency nosedived to 215 against the US dollar in the inter-bank market, a significant loss consequent upon continu...