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Discrepency in Burma's figures for



Subject: Discrepency in Burma's figures for trade with U.S.

Re. Xinhua: Myanmar's bilateral trade with U.S. drops (September 14, 1999)

The official Burmese trade statistics reported by Xinhua (see text of
article below) are extraordinarily inaccurate.  According to the regime, US
trade with Burma in fiscal year 1998-1999 (April 1998-March 1999) totalled
$73.37 million, with $37.41 million in exports to the US and $35.96 million
in imports from the US.  The regime is grossly underreporting its exports to
the US and the actual figure is more than 400 per cent higher.  The reasons
for the underreporting are probably a combination of the regime's worry that
their exports could be an easy target for US sanctions (especially garments)
and evasion of Burmese taxes by exporting companies.

According to the US Department of Commerce, which keeps data on all US
imports and exports, Burma exports to the US were $164 million in calendar
year 1998.  From January through June of this year it has exported another
$92 million in products to the US.  Burmese exports to the US have are
growing at rate of 25.55 per cent so far this year.  In 1998, they were
42.38 per cent higher than the year before.  Burmese exports to the US have
been surging steadily since at least 1996.  Eighty five per cent of Burma's
exports to the US are garments.

The best source of information on Burma's bilateral trade with the US is the
US Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration.  Their East
Asia/Pacific bureau can be contacted at 202 482 3647.  The data to look for
is the "US Annual General Imports from Burma" which is contained in the
Census Bureau's World Trade Atlas.

Here are the actual figures for Burma's imports to the US according to the
US Department of Commerce:

[Millions of US dollars]
                   1996   1997   1998   1999(Jan-June)
Total              108    115    164    92
%growth                          42.38  25.55

By category
Knit apparel       48.50  57.27  84.74  51.9
Woven apparel      35.15  27.88  43.06  29.08
Precious stones    1.90   4.88   10.58  4.76



-----Original Message-----
Behalf Of David Arnott
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Subject: Myanmar's bilateral trade with U.S. drops


Myanmar's bilateral trade with U.S. drops

Yangon, Sept 14, Xinhua:   Bilateral trade between Myanmar and the United
States amounted to 73.37 million U.S. dollars in fiscal 1998-99 which ended
on March 31, dropping by 20 percent compared with the previous fiscal
year's 92.29 million dollars. The official economic indicators said in its
latest issue that in 1998-99, Myanmar's import from the United States was
valued at 35.96 million dollars, 35.5 percent less than the 55.8 million
dollars in the previous fiscal year. Myanmar's export to the United States
in the fiscal year stood at 37.41 million dollars, increasing by 2.52
percent from the previous fiscal year's 36.49 million dollars, it added.

Meanwhile, during the five-year period from April 1994 to April 1999,
Myanmar absorbed investments amounting to 359.82 million dollars from the
United States in four projects, accounting for 6.37 percent of the total
foreign investment of 5.641 billion dollars in the country.

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