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.