Myanmar government signed on Friday a loan agreement to borrow US$100 million from Chinese state-owned Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank), despite criticisms from some parliamentarians over the high interest rate.
China EXIM Bank offered to lend Myanmar US$100 million at 4.5 percent annual interest rate. Some members of parliament protested against taking the high interest-rate Chinese loan, but the Parliament finally approved the loan on August 22.
On October 18, Nyi Hla Phyu, Director General of Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank, and Mei Jianping, Deputy General Manager of China EXIM Bank, signed the US$100 million loan agreement in Nay Pyi Taw.
The loan-agreement signing ceremony was attended by Nyan Tun, Vice President of Myanmar, and other senior officials from both sides.
Myanmar government said the loan will be used for micro-credit programmes in rural areas and upgrading cooperatives.
Therefore, Kyaw San, Minister for Cooperatives, and Win Shein, Minister for Finance attended the loan-agreement signing ceremony.
Vice President Nyan Tun met separately with Mei Jianping, Deputy General Manager of China EXIM Bank. They discussed enhancing bilateral economic ties, as well as further cooperation in rural development, agriculture, energy, transportation, telecommunication, banking and finance.
Meanwhile, Myanmar government requested additional Ks 1.39 trillion (US$1.44bn) for the federal budget, as the initially approved budget became insufficient to cover the government’s expenses. The largest portion of it was requested by the Ministry of Cooperatives, said Thurein Zaw, chairperson of Lower House’s Public Accounts Committee on October 17.
source: Eleven Myanmar
http://elevenmyanmar.com/business/3792-despite-criticisms-myanmar-signs-us-100m-high-interest-rate-loan-with-china
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