DEPUTY Minister for Planning and Finance U Maung Maung Win attended the meeting of ASEAN+3 Countries Finance and Central Bank Deputy Governors virtually chaired by Brunei Darussalam yesterday morning.
During the Informal Session of the meeting in the morning, officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) discussed the global and Asian economic situations.
Officials discussed the effects on the global economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the rise of inflation due to temporary interruptions in production; the increase in food and fuel prices which is also driving up inflation, and a significant rise in public debt and private debt as a result. They also discussed that although the vaccination against the COVID-19 has started in respective countries, the pandemic is still retarding the economic recovery, and the vaccination is a key factor in reviving the economy. The meeting also discussed that climate change, natural disasters, cyber-attacks and geopolitics remain challenges in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore, each country should develop appropriate policies for national economic recovery.
At the meeting, Deputy Minister U Maung Maung Win said Myanmar is also affected by COVID-19 as other nations, and the World Bank, IMF, ADB, and AMRO have stated Myanmar’s significant drop in economic development in Macroeconomic Outlook Reports.
However, Myanmar is expected to achieve an economic growth rate of 3.8 per cent in the 2021-2022 financial year, he said.
Vaccination against COVID- 19 has started to the target priority groups in the country, aiming to reach 50 per cent of all eligible vaccinations by the end of this year, he continued. Myanmar has implemented the COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP) since April 2020 and now preparing to launch the Myanmar Economic Recovery Plan (MERP), both of which are the stimulus packages that include providing loans to businesses hardest hit by the COVID-19, support to low-income citizens, public health system expansion, immunization coverage, and supports to quarantine centres, he said.
The Deputy Minister also added that Myanmar is currently in a state of emergency and the State Administration Council is setting and implementing the Five-Point Roadmap and Nine Objectives, improving production based on agriculture and livestock with modern methods, as well as including the development of other economic sectors as an economic goal.
He expressed words of thanks to AMRO and ADB for their policy recommendations and adoption of policies for agricultural transformation in Asia. He also said these recommendations and approaches will help in reviving the economy in the region.
Myanmar also participated in the formal session held in the afternoon which discussed the implementations and policies of the ASEAN+3 countries and further steps. It is reported that the discussions from this meeting will be submitted to be approved to the ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting to be held in April2022.
MNA