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NOTE: Go Figure



FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW - September 16, 1999

Go Figure

Burma's economic figures are so bad that the government is not
publishing a
statistical yearbook for 1998-99. The government normally issues a
volume in
Burmese and English every July containing the country's latest
import-export
figures and other economic data. But this year no statistics will be
published in any language. The Burmese authorities have even started to
withdraw from circulation the report for fiscal 1997-98. The reasons are
unclear but Burma-watchers surmise that the government is embarrassed to
release information confirming Burma's abysmal economic performance over
the
past year. Industrial production has plunged, foreign  investment is
down to
a tricle and prices of daily commodities are rising fast.