Burma reveals international debt {Correction]

[Zomi for Federalization and Democratization of Burma]

CORRECTION

In the second paragraph of my comments, I wrote:

Ne Win, Saw Maung and Than Shwe borrowed money from various sources,
with any restraint, knowing that they, personally, are not responsible
for repayment.

It should have been:

Ne Win, Saw Maung and Than Shwe borrowed money from various sources,
withOUT any restraint, knowing that they, personally, are not
responsible for repayment.

The corrected version is shown hereunder:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Zomi for Federalization and Democratization of Burma
<fedand...@gmail.com>
Date: Feb 5, 10:04 am
Subject: Burma reveals international debt
To: soc.culture.burma, soc.rights.human, soc.culture.asean,
soc.culture.thai, soc.culture.malaysia


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5% of the Union budget is spent for education and health combined, and
60% is spent for armed forces. The high volume of the money is spent
to buy arms ad ammunition, and pay for soldiers, in order to kill
Kachin and non-Bamar people and Chrisrian and non-Buddhist people.

Ne Win, Saw Maung and Than Shwe borrowed money from various sources,
without any restraint, knowing that they, personally, are not
responsible for repayment. And they used the money for vainglory, such
as constructing a city out of the wilderness (Naypyidaw), numerous
massive pagodas, digging underground tunnels, and their pet projects,
such as the projects in Kyaukse (Than Shwe's pet projects).

So they are too timid to reveal the Union budget. Where dishonesty
exists, there is no transparency.

For many years, the SPDC said that trade sanctions did not affect the
government, and Burma was peaceful and prosperous in spite of trade
sanctions. Now the Brutal Bamar Buddhist fascists could not but
reveal that they want trade sanctions to be lifted. Even the so-called
hardliner Nga Tin Aung Myint Oo and cronies have to agree, grudgingly,
that democracy and human rights should be allowed in Burma, at least
piecemeal.
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Burma reveals international debt

Friday, 03 February 2012 16:58
Mizzima News

(Mizzima) – Burma owes more than US$ 11 billion in foreign debt in
loans that were made prior to 1988, its finance minister told
Parliament this week.

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Photo:
suu-kyi-and-hla-tun-on-workshop-1s.jpg

Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Finance and Revenue
Minister Hla Tun at a financial workshop in Rangoon in November 2011.
Photo: Mizzima
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The disclosure to lawmakers is a rare example of transparency from the
secretive government, which during the past year has been pushing a
number of democratic reforms.

The finance minister told lawmakers on Tuesday that Burma has begun to
talk to Japan, Italy and other institutions about repayment.

Finance Minister Hla Tun told MPs that $8.4 billion of the $11 billion
external debt was run up between 1962 and 1988 under the socialist
government of General Ne Win.

The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and Germany were also owed
several hundred million dollars each, he said.

Since the military authorities crushed the 1988 pro-democracy
uprising, Western sanctions and financial mismanagement have taken a
further toll on the country’s finances. For the past several years it
has run deficits.

China had lent Burma the most in the post-1988 era, at about $2
billion, the minister was quoted as saying.

In 2009, Burma's national debt was estimated at $7.37 billion. Details
of the country’s budget are not made public.

While its finances are currently in shambles, an IMF report in January
said Burma could be Southeast Asia’s next financial frontier, because
of its vast energy resources and untapped work force, many of whom
speak English.

Lawmakers are now engaged in approving the country’s annual budget in
Naypyitaw, the capital.

Last Updated ( Friday, 03 February 2012 17:12 )

http://www.mizzima.com/business/6533-burma-reveals-international-debt...

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