Saturday, November 02, 2013

my comment and informal summary of voa intv below -

Ko ZO only covered the stabilization portion of the classic Stabilization and Structural Change reforms --

informal summary of below (original in Burmese) -- If you don't know Burmese and want more, ask BBG/VOA for official transcript/translation -- This is all I can do:

stabilization includes stabilizing prices, including the price of foreign exchange (i.e. the foreign exchange rate). 

went to Paris Club to negotiate

11 billion debt has to be paid to start on a new page.

was paid with debt erased by Japan.

-- things not spoken of, not asked.
structural change component of reforms and money supply and central bank (in 70s, when my mentor, late Dr Aye Hlaing appointed chairman of Union Bank (central bank) he said at his farewell event in public at the Institute of Ecos.  "I can't sleep at night thinking of the money supply figure."

-- well, now it is much more as we can see via the prices.

-- Micheal Blumenthal had the same problem, he told the Zaire govt to reduce expenditure, but it could not because it had to pay off to buy itself political support domestically.  So same thing is likely to happen in Burma -

-- things not covered in interview:

corruption, top-heavy bureaucracy, land grabs, foreign investment, army expenditures, racial strife and reasons, lack of peace due to active wars still on-going.

kmk
11-2-2013

Burmese riddle verses from The Atlantic 1958

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1958/02/some-burmese-riddle-verses/640460/