Islamabad: Pakistan's central bank has granted government-run Bank of China a licence to operate in the country to ease the financial requirements of Chinese-led "Belt and Road" projects, the central bank said.
China has pledged to invest some $57bn in Pakistan's rail, road and energy infrastructure through its vast modern-day "Silk Road" network of trade routes linking Asia with Europe and Africa. "The Bank of China aims to provide differential and specialised banking services to effectively serve the financing needs of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) related projects by leveraging on its experience and global technology platform," the central bank said in a statement.
The statement outlined the Bank of China's ambitions tobecome one of Pakistan's leading financial institutions by opening branches in major cities in major cities across the country.
