Myanmar tells traders to use euro instead of dollar
Myanmar tells traders to use euro instead of dollar
AYE AYE WIN, Associated Presse, Yangon, Myanmar
Myanmar's military government, faced with a U.S. ban on remittances to the country, has decreed that the euro and other currencies should be used in place of the dollar for international business transactions.
According to an official instruction to government departments, a copy of which was seen on Friday by The Associated Press, government organizations and private enterprises should use the euro in international transactions, including importing and exporting. The instruction was dated Aug. 10.
At a meeting on Sunday with several Cabinet ministers, a small circle of top businessmen were told to use the euro to conduct their business transactions, and if their trading partners agreed, were allowed to use the Japanese yen or Singapore dollar as well.
There has not yet been an official announcement of the decision to use the euro.
As part of efforts to pressure Myanmar's ruling junta into releasing detained pro-democracy leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi, the United States has banned Myanmar imports, and frozen the assets of Myanmar officials and all United States dollar remittances to the country.
Because most trade - aside from unregistered cross border commerce - is conducted in U.S. dollars, Myanmar's trading sector has been hamstrung by the U.S. actions.
U.S. dollar transfers from any country into Myanmar have to be cleared through U.S. banks, so it has become practically impossible to conduct import-export business. Letters of credit, usually denominated in dollars, also cannot be obtained.
Sunday's meeting also decided that border trade with Myanmar's five neighbors - India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand - will be expanded and will be conducted in euros as well as the currencies of the countries concerned.
Cross border trade is less affected by the U.S. action, since local currencies are often used and transactions generally paid for in cash.
Finance Minister Maj. Gen. Hla Tun, Commerce Ministers Brig, Gen. Pyi Sone and Minister for National Planning and Economic Development Soe Tha were among the Cabinet members attending the Sunday meeting.
Some businessmen, speaking privately, have expressed skepticism over the new approach, saying that they will incur more losses because of higher costs involved in exchanging the euro. Others are afraid that the European Union, which also stepped up sanctions against Myanmar, may impose measures similar to those taken by Washington.
The current junta seized power in 1988 after crushing a pro- democracy uprising. It held elections in 1990 but annulled the results after Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won. She was kept under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and again for 19 months before her release in May 2002. After one year of freedom, she was arrested again on May 30 following a clash between her supporters and a pro-junta mob in northern Myanmar.