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The World Bank on Burma



WORLD BANK PRESS REVIEW
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
NOVEMBER 15,1999

NO REFORMS, NO PROGRESS, WORLD BANK TELLS BURMA. 

In a blunt repudiation of the state policy of Burma (Myanmar), the 
World Bank has told the military leadership that it must carry out 
major political and human rights
reforms before the country can achieve prosperity on par with 
neighboring nations, reports the International Herald Tribune (11/13, 
p.1). The confidential report is based on
an examination of the Burmese economy that received unusual government 
cooperation, notes the story, saying the report nonetheless delivers a 
scathing rebuke of the
military regime's economic management.

The report attributes Burma's economic malaise to the government's 
mismanagement rather than any lingering fallout from the Asian 
financial crisis. It also concludes that
the current policies of the military leadership will very likely 
exacerbate poverty, stunt human development, and devastate national 
cohesion. The report also says the rich in
Burma have gained disproportionately from economic development, 
compared with other Asian countries. Reuters and Agence France-Presse 
also report.

The report also warns that a dangerous buildup of debt due to 
agricultural subsidies could erupt into a systemic banking crisis, 
similar to those experienced elsewhere in
Asia, the IHT (p.13) adds in a separate report today. Bad economic 
policies also lie at the heart of environmental problems such as 
increased deforestation and mangrove
destruction, the report says.

Written by the Bank, the 109-page report was delivered during a trip 
to Burma by a special assistant to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and 
was secretly distributed in
draft version last month to top generals and the opposition leader, 
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It reflects a continuing initiative by the World 
Bank and the UN to break a
longstanding political deadlock and foster dialogue between the 
government and the opposition.

The Bank wrote the report-its first on Burma in nearly half a decade-
even though Burma has failed to repay past loans and the US maintains 
a longstanding veto on any
new assistance, the story notes, adding that it underscores the 
institution's concern about conditions in the country.

Despite its harshly critical nature, the study will very likely raise 
hackles among those opposed to the Rangoon government, said Georgetown 
University professor David
Steinberg, who served as peer reviewer for the report. "The opposition 
will have you believe that surveys of this sort create some kind of 
legitimacy for the government,"
Steinberg is quoted as saying. "In fact, it is important for outsiders 
to make information available to government leaders who have shown a 
clear and consistent pattern of
not being informed about their own people."

Commenting in today's IHT (p.8), Steinberg writes that in polarized 
political environments like Burma, foreigners, financial institutions 
such as the World Bank, aid
organizations, and even private scholars have a useful function. It is 
to bring to the attention of leaders an objective analysis of the 
problems that their country faces, so that
if political will is there, improvements can be made in people's 
lives.

The comment comes as the Burmese junta said today it had invited the 
World Bank for talks after the scathing study recommended political 
reform as the only way to heal
the nation's shattered economy, says AFP in a separate report. "The 
government of Myanmar has invited the World Bank representatives for 
further discussions," a junta
spokesman is quoted as saying in a statement. "For the time being, 
there is no comment to give on the World Bank's findings."

The statement was the first acknowledgement by the military of the 
report's existence and a rare expression of willingness to cooperate 
with international institutions, the
story says. World Bank officials could not immediately be reached for 
comment.