FR: BURMESE BLIGHT - official trans

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Subject: FR: BURMESE BLIGHT - official translation

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Burma-Economy 

[http://www.fr-aktuell.de/english/401/t401011.htm]

BURMESE BLIGHT

World Bank blames military for country's economic ruin

By Juergen Dauth 

Hong Kong - Military rule has made Burma a pauper, a World Bank Economic
and Social Report concludes. Hunger is today the scourge of what used to
be the rice bowl of Asia.

Since the last World Bank report on Burma ten years ago, the situation
has clearly deteriorated in the south-east Asian country, which has been
under military rule for the past 37 years.

Up to 50 years ago Burma was the rice bowl of Asia, offsetting without
problems production shortfalls in other countries of the region.

Today, 13 million Burmese or one third of the population are living
below the existence minimum. One third of the children are
undernourished and ten per cent of them were living "at the limit of
physical existence", the World Bank said.

The statistics on Burmese ruin go even further. According to the report,
30 per cent of children of school age are not even registered to attend
school and only 40 per cent finish primary school.

In the two major cities of Mandalay and Rangoon, 70 per cent of families
have to patronise pawnshops twice a year to raise loans to buy food.

And Burma's generals are to blame for everything, the World Bank says.
Both experts and expertise are lacking.

Burma's ruling military were educated in the hotbeds of war and not in
universities. The state is just as much a poorhouse as the entire nation
itself.

Enough funds for education and welfare services are not available. The
money that the state is in a position to spend is used up by the bloated
armed forces and by inefficient public sector companies.

There are only a few small enterprises which have the ability to expand
and generate jobs. However, the banks refuse to grant them loans because
they are unable to provide security.

Businesses owned by the families of military officials, on the other
hand, are able to borrow freely even if it is common knowledge that they
will never repay their loans. The World Bank recommends that the private
sector invest where the state fails.

However, only the agricultural sector posted surpluses and contributes
two thirds of the domestic product. About 92 per cent of Burmese are
farm workers.

But farmers have to sell most of their produce to state-run export
companies at low prices and are left only with naked subsistence.

The United Nations and the World Bank have offered Burma support but the
Western nations who boycott Burma and are the major financers of the
international institutions will not free up a single dollar as long as
the generals do not make political concessions. That would mean the
release of political prisoners and the first steps in the direction of a
civilian government.

However, the military stubbornly refuses to recognise the results of the
1990 elections. The generals are aware that the population's will to
revolt has been broken. The exiled Burmese in Thailand have no influence
whatsoever on the masses.

As with all other previous reports, the World Bank will hardly be able
to move anything with its latest report. The military regime has already
labelled the Economic and Social Report as "highly exaggerated".

On Tuesday, the 52nd anniversary of Burma's independence, the junta
again showed its attitude towards the democratic movement. These
"terrorrist" groups have to be fought, said General Than Shwe. 

                  
[ dokument info ]
Copyright © Frankfurter Rundschau 2000
Dokument erstellt am 05.01.2000 um 20.46 Uhr 
Erscheinungsdatum 05.01.2000
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