RSS Feed
March 28th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
The new regime has surprised even its critics with a series of reforms, and
the currency revamp is its first major move to modernise an economy weakened
by decades of mismanagement and international sanctions.
Burma has a highly complex exchange rate regime, with official, semi-official
and unofficial rates.
The official government rate – which is widely ignored – is fixed at around
just six kyat to the dollar, while in stark contrast the rate on the
flourishing black market stands at about 800 per dollar.
The official rate will now be replaced with a market-determined rate,
according to a central bank announcement published in state mouthpiece The
New Light of Burma. It did not say at what rate the kyat would be floated or
exactly how it would be managed.
Experts saw the multiple-rate system as a way for the regime to funnel
revenues from natural gas sales into secret accounts by recording payments
at six kyat per dollar and then exchanging them at the much higher informal
rate.
“Burma’s public accounts have really been starved of money because
state-owned enterprise earnings have just been filtered off into various
other accounts,” said Turnell.
“In a sense this is a real signal that the new government is serious
about reform because this closes off a channel of money that the previous
generals were only too eager to get hold of.”
At the invitation of the new government, a team of experts from the
International Monetary Fund visited Burma in October to offer advice on
reforming the forex market and unifying its multiple rates.
The unusual request by a regime that regards international institutions with
suspicion was seen an indication of the gravity of the currency market
disarray and a tentative sign it is warming to modern economic reforms.
IMF deputy managing director Naoyuki Shinohara told reporters in Bangkok on
Tuesday that the Washington-based institution was helping Burma to build a
strong financial system.
“Our activity in Burma is basically in technical assistance, capacity
building, especially in the area of central banking, exchange rate policy
and statistics,” he said.
“In those basic areas we are trying to work together with the authorities
in Burma to strengthen capacity.”
The currency move takes effect on the same day as by-elections in which
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is standing for a seat in parliament.
Source: AFP
Related posts:
Views: 0
Posted in 
Tags: 
