What would be the impact of CPEC on the economy

of Pakistan?
What would be the short term impact of China's investment of $46 billion in Pakistan's
economy?

Is Pakistan going to become a transit route like Hong Kong or Dubai or Doha?

What would be the impact of China Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) on Pakistan's

economy in the long run?

Will Pakistan be able to achieve a more stable economy?

The benefits for Pakistan in the long run are not just limited to Energy and Military sector, but if
executed as proposed, it will have big impact on three of Pakistans least discussed sectors.

Information and Communication

Agriculture & Aquaculture
Manufacturing
Information and Communication: CPEC is bound to have a major impact of Pakistans
Information and Communication landscape, it has potential to pit Pakistan directly against the other
Global Information Technology Power- namely, India as an alternative global TECH-HUB. Thanks
to the British, Pakistan shares a lot of common traits with India, and ubiquitousness of English
language is one of them.

As a matter of fact, though India sheerly due to its mammoth population holds numerical
advantage over Pakistan, a far larger percentage, 49% of Pakistanis speak English compared to
measly 13% for India. List of countries by English-speaking population - Wikipedia

While China with 46% penetration leads the Region SAARC+China in internet accessibility,
Pakistan with 11% accessibility is not too far behind India at 15%. A major part of CPEC initiative is,
installation of fiber optics and satellite Internet connections. This will instantly connect Pakistans
remote areas and help boost its Internet user base. Moreover, once the project is up and running the
multi-national companies in technology and telecommunication space will rush to use it as their
regional base to serve the growing needs of the countries in the Middle-East, Iran and Central Asia.

Agronomics : Today Pakistan has to route all its produce and catch to China via Dubai. Chinas
appetite for fruits and vegetables is insatiable and once CPEC becomes a reality, fruits popular
amongst Chinese like Cherries and Apricots that grow in abundance in Pakistan and surrounding
regions (Iran, Uzbekistan etc.) will have an easy path to the markets in Beijing & Guangzhou.

Similarly Pakistans aquaculture industry is under explored. Since Pakistans water along the Arabian
Sea share similar characteristics to that of Indias leading fishing hubs (Gujarat, Goa and
Maharashtra) the direct link to Chinese markets will kick-start this dormant industry as Chinese
appetite for seafood is World renowned.
Manufacturing : It is inevitable that with growing income Chinese society will get more and more
consumeristic. Just like the Americans are today, the burgeoning Chinese middle-class will demand
for wide range of products at affordable prices (read:Cheap).

It is a foregone conclusion that in the near future China will make a move up the value chain in
manufacturing sector, so while cornering the high tech manufacturing services ( pharmaceuticals, air
and space craft and computer/electronic/optical) for itself, it will outsource medium to low-
technology manufacturing activities (Food, textile, paper, leather etc.) to countries like Pakistan and
Bangladesh. With CPEC it is but obvious Pakistan will be a big beneficiary of Chinas largesse.

So people who say Pakistan has nothing to gain from CPEC are living in the fools
paradise. Of course, in the short term (1015 years) China will gain more than
Pakistan from this project. But, in the long term, Pakistan is going to reap quantum
benefits in an incremental fashion.

I sincerely hope India wakes up and wizens to this new reality and the current dispensation in New
Delhi does not feed fuel to this BAN CHINESE GOOD movement.

Indias loss is bound to end up being Pakistans gain.