Economy of Burma
| Sr. No. | Description | 2006-2007 Budget Trade Volume | 2006-2007 Real Trade Volume | |||||
| Export | Import | Trade Volume | Export | Import | Trade Volume | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Normal Trade | 4233.60 | 2468.40 | 6702.00 | 4585.47 | 2491.33 | 7076.80 | |
| 2 | Border Trade | 814.00 | 466.00 | 1280.00 | 647.21 | 445.40 | 1092.61 | |
| Total | 5047.60 | 2934.40 | 7982.00 | 5232.68 | 2936.73 | 8169.41 | ||
| No | Financial Year | Export Value | Import Value | Trade Value (US$, 000,000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2003-2004 | 2356.82 | 2239.97 | 4596.79 |
| 2 | 2004-2005 | 2927.83 | 1973.58 | 4901.41 |
| 3 | 2005-2006 | 3558.03 | 1984.41 | 5542.44 |
| 4 | 2006-2007 | 5232.68 | 2936.73 | 8169.41 |
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Humanitarian Aid
In April 2007, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified the financial and other restrictions that the military government places on international humanitarian assistance in the Southeast Asian country.
The GAO report, entitled "Assistance Programs Constrained in Burma," outlines the specific efforts of the Burmese government to hinder the humanitarian work of international organizations, including by restricting the free movement of international staff within the country. The report notes that the regime has tightened its control over assistance work since former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt was purged in October 2004. Furthermore, the reports states that the military government passed guidelines in February 2006, which formalized Burma's restrictive policies. According to the report, the guidelines require that programs run by humanitarian groups "enhance and safeguard the national interest" and that international organizations coordinate with state agents and select their Burmese staff from government-prepared lists of individuals. United Nations officials have declared these restrictions unacceptable.
"The shameful behavior of Burma's military regime in tying the hand of humanitarian organizations is laid out in these pages for all to see, and it must come to an end," said U.S. Representative Tom Lantos (D-CA). "In eastern Burma, where the military regime has burned or otherwise destroyed over 3,000 villages, humanitarian relief has been decimated. At least one million people have fled their homes and many are simply being left to die in the jungle."
U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) said that the report "underscores the need for democratic change in Burma, whose military regime arbitrarily arrests, tortures, rapes and executes its own people, ruthlessly persecutes ethnic minorities, and bizarrely builds itself a new capital city while failing to address the increasingly urgent challenges of refugee flows, illicit narcotics and human trafficking, and the spread of HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases." [13]
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Recent Economic Protests
The Burmese military junta detained eight people on Sunday, April 22, 2007 who took part in a rare demonstration in a Yangon suburb amid a growing military crackdown on protesters. A group of about ten protesters carrying placards and chanting slogans staged the protest Sunday morning in Yangon's Thingangyun township, calling for lower prices and improved health, education and better utility services. The protest ended peacefully after about 70 minutes, but plainclothes police took away eight demonstrators as some 100 onlookers watched. It could not immediately be determined if they were arrested on criminal charges. The protesters carried placards with slogans such as "Down with consumer prices."
The junta tolerates little dissent and strictly curbs press freedoms. Some of those detained were the same protesters who took part in a downtown Yangon protest on February 22, 2007, said the witnesses who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals by the government. That protest was one of the first demonstrations in recent years to challenge the junta's economic mismanagement rather than its legal right to rule. The protesters detained in the February rally had said they were released after signing an acknowledgment of police orders that they should not hold any future public demonstrations without first obtaining official permission.[14]
The Burmese military government stated its intention to crack down on these human rights activists, according to an April 23, 2007, report in the country’s official press. The announcement, that comprised a full page of the official newspaper, followed calls by human rights advocacy groups, including London-based Amnesty International, for Burmese authorities to investigate recent violent attacks on rights activists in the country.
Two members of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters, Maung Maung Lay, 37, and Myint Naing, 40, were hospitalized with head injuries following attacks by more than 50 people while the two were working in Hinthada township, Irrawaddy Division in mid-April. On Sunday, April 22, 2007, eight people were arrested by plainclothes police, members of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association, and the Pyithu Swan Arr Shin (a paramilitary group) while demonstrating peacefully in a Rangoon suburb. The eight protesters were calling for lower commodity prices, better health-care and improved utility services. Htin Kyaw, 44, one of the eight who also took part in an earlier demonstration in late February in downtown Rangoon, was beaten by a mob, according to sources at the scene of the protest.
Reports from Burmese opposition activists have emerged in recent weeks saying that Burmese authorities have directed the police and other government proxy groups to deal harshly with any sign of unrest in Rangoon. “This proves that there is no rule of law [in Burma],” the 88 Generation Students group said in a statement issued on April 23, 2007. “We seriously urge the authorities to prevent violence in the future and to guarantee the safety of every citizen.” [15]
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Other statistics
Electricity - production: 7.393 billion kWh (1998)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 61.72%
hydro: 38.28%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)
Electricity - consumption: 6.875 billion kWh (1998)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)
Agriculture - products: paddy rice, maize, oilseed, sugarcane, pulses; hardwood
Currency: 1 kyat (K) = 100 pyas
Exchange rates: kyats per US dollar - 5.82 (2005), 5.7459 (2004), 6.0764 (2003), 6.5734 (2002), 6.6841 (2001) note: these are official exchange rates; unofficial exchange rates ranged in 2004 from 815 kyat/US dollar to nearly 970 kyat/US dollar, and by year-end 2005, the unofficial exchange rate was 1,075 kyat/US dollar.
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Footnotes
- ^ Burma. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved on 2007-01-13.,
- ^ a b Steinberg, David L. (February 2002). Burma: The State of Myanmar. Georgetown University Press. ISBN.
- ^ Watkins, Thayer. Political and Economic History of Myanmar (Burma) Economics. San José State University. Retrieved on 2006-07-08.
- ^ Stephen Codrington (2005). Planet geography. Solid Star Press, 559.
- ^ List of Least Developed Countries. UN-OHRLLS (2005).
- ^ Fullbrook, David. "So long US, hello China, India", Asia Times, 2004-11-04. Retrieved on 2006-07-14.
- ^ [1] - MIRT. Team, "Exchange rate between the United States dollar and Myats, 1913 -1999", 2002.
- ^ a b Challenges to Democratization in Burma (PDF). International IDEA (November 2001). Retrieved on 2006-07-12.
- ^ Myanmar Country Profile (PDF). Office on Drugs and Crime 5-6. United Nations (December 2005). Retrieved on 2006-07-09.
- ^ Brown, Ian (2005). A Colonial Economy In Crisis. Routledge. ISBN 0-4153-0580-2.
- ^ "High Inflation Impeding Burma's Economy, Says NLD", The Irrawaddy, 2007-04-30. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
- ^ Henderson, Joan C.. The Politics of Tourism in Myanmar. Nanyang Technological University. Retrieved on 2006-07-08.
- ^ "Myanmar's rulers implement increasingly restrictive regulations for aid-giving agencies", International Herald Tribune, 2007-04-19. Retrieved on 2007-04-23.
- ^ "Eight demonstrators detained for rare protest in military-ruled Myanmar", International Herald Tribune, 2007-04-22. Retrieved on 2007-04-23.
- ^ "Burma’s Junta Vows to Crack Down on Human Rights Activists", The Irrawaddy, 2007-04-23. Retrieved on 2007-04-23.
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See also
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External links
- News, information, journals, magazines related to Burmese business and commerce
- Myanmar Commerce Online Licence Services, Information Services website
- Myanmar Commerce Information Services website
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