(Yicai Global) April 23 -- Countries along the route of China's Belt and Road Initiative have obtained over USD90 billion in investment for local projects over the past half a decade, according to a Chinese government official.

Commercial banks, policy lenders and international financial institutions have all injected cash into these countries and taken on risk, Xiao Weiming, leader of China's Belt and Road office, said at a press briefing yesterday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping devised the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. It is a vast multi-decade plan to build an infrastructure and trade route spanning roads, rails, pipes and waterways on most of the planet's continents.

The initiative gives the world's largest landlocked country, Kazakhstan, access to the sea, Xiao said. It also creates an auto manufacturing industry for the Republic of Belarus, enables the Maldives to build bridges, helps Pakistan resolve its power shortage and connects China and Laos by rail, he added.

Xiao believes this proves that the Belt and Road has made great contributions to economic development and improved people's livelihood in countries along its route.

No country involved in the Belt and Road has ever incurred any debt or fallen into any debt traps, Xiao said, refuting some nations' claims that the scheme lures developing countries into taking on large sums of credit.