Govt repays about $700mln of local and foreign debt every year

The country repays about $700million of local and foreign loans every year, said Deputy Minister for Information Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun during the 17th press conference held yesterday.
“The local and foreign debts are increasing year on year. It should analyze the debt resistance for the long run. The government has to repay about $700million including capital and interest every year,” he said.
Myanmar had a local debt of over K16,000 billion and foreign debt of over K5,000 billion between the 2011-2012FY and the 2018-2019FY, he added.
“From the 2016-2017FY and the 2020-2021FY, the outstanding local debt was increasing year by year. It showed a deficit in Union budget yearly and the revenue, expenditure, deficit and surplus of each year were the deficit and so it was the highest in the 2019-2020FY,” he continued.
The government sold treasury bills and bonds and borrowed money from the Central Bank of Myanmar to meet its needs. The GDP growth was seen only between 2016 and 2018, after that, it dropped by half in the 2019-2020FY.
“It is because of the wrong policy that emphasized only the imports without encouraging the locally produced products and the local economy in the previous governments’ terms,” he said. — TWA/GNLM