Monday, 19 September 2011 22:10 Myo Thant
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burma’s budget has been in the red for five years in a row now and during the current 2011-12 fiscal year, the deficit will be more than 2.3 trillion kyat (US$ 2.7 billion), the Public Accounts Committee told the Burmese Upper House of Parliament on Monday.
Upper House Public Accounts Committee chairman San Pye told lawmakers that the deficit is a combination of central government, states and regional government deficits.
The secretary of the Public Accounts Committee of the Lower House, Maung Toe, told Mizzima that the deficit for the central government budget for the current budget year is 2,201.45 billion kyat while the deficit for regional and state governments is 170.495 billion kyat.
The Upper House will hold deliberations on the report on Tuesday.
Moreover, state-owned industries are also in the red. The losses for the state-owned Zayawaddy and Bilin sugar mills alone was more than 500 million kyat annually, No. 2 Industrial Minister Soe Thein told Parliament on Monday. The minister didn’t make clear which fiscal years accounted for the losses at the two factories.
Burma’s fiscal year begins on April 1 and ends on March 31.
MP Phone Myint Aung of the New National Democracy Party told Mizzima: “Previously these budget figures were not disclosed to the public, and we didn’t know about these deficits. Now the Public Accounts Committee disclosed the figures showing a huge deficit, and we realize it as reality now. So we have been cheated in the past 20 years. But now it is exposed. They are now showing all of their losses and deficits in their budgets.”
In a leaked US diplomatic cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Rangoon to the State Department in Washington in May 2009, a diplomat said that Burma had a budget deficit which was caused by weakness in revenue collection, inefficiency of state-owned enterprises and government staff, uncontrolled lavish spending by the government and huge spending in unproductive sectors such as defence and construction.
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burma’s budget has been in the red for five years in a row now and during the current 2011-12 fiscal year, the deficit will be more than 2.3 trillion kyat (US$ 2.7 billion), the Public Accounts Committee told the Burmese Upper House of Parliament on Monday.
Upper House Public Accounts Committee chairman San Pye told lawmakers that the deficit is a combination of central government, states and regional government deficits.
 |
| The Lower House of Parliament will deliberate on the Burmese budget on Tuesday. Officials announced that the government would run a deficit this fiscal year totalling more than US$ 2.7 billion. Photo: Mizzima |
The secretary of the Public Accounts Committee of the Lower House, Maung Toe, told Mizzima that the deficit for the central government budget for the current budget year is 2,201.45 billion kyat while the deficit for regional and state governments is 170.495 billion kyat.
The Upper House will hold deliberations on the report on Tuesday.
Moreover, state-owned industries are also in the red. The losses for the state-owned Zayawaddy and Bilin sugar mills alone was more than 500 million kyat annually, No. 2 Industrial Minister Soe Thein told Parliament on Monday. The minister didn’t make clear which fiscal years accounted for the losses at the two factories.
Burma’s fiscal year begins on April 1 and ends on March 31.
MP Phone Myint Aung of the New National Democracy Party told Mizzima: “Previously these budget figures were not disclosed to the public, and we didn’t know about these deficits. Now the Public Accounts Committee disclosed the figures showing a huge deficit, and we realize it as reality now. So we have been cheated in the past 20 years. But now it is exposed. They are now showing all of their losses and deficits in their budgets.”
In a leaked US diplomatic cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Rangoon to the State Department in Washington in May 2009, a diplomat said that Burma had a budget deficit which was caused by weakness in revenue collection, inefficiency of state-owned enterprises and government staff, uncontrolled lavish spending by the government and huge spending in unproductive sectors such as defence and construction.
Subscribe to email feed
