(THAI BUSINESS ASSOCIATION OF MYANMAR)

www.tbam1997.com

The President’s Emergency Fund is designed as a reserve for unforeseen expenditures. These can include preventing loss from, or repairing damages caused by, wild weather or other natural disasters.

Of the K9.095 billion total spent, the major expenditures from the four ministries are broken down as follows:

The largest portion of the total expenditure was the K7.33 billion spent by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation. These funds were used to provide financial assistance to farmers whose crops were wiped out by strong winds, floods, and hail during the recent rainy season.

The money went toward buying replacement seeds to replant more than 300,000 acres of farmland affected by these natural disasters.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation said: “We can’t predict natural disasters, so the cost of replacement seeds was not included in our approved budget. Because of this, we had to use money from the emergency fund.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense spent over K318 million repairing buildings that they use which had been destroyed by storms during the rainy season.

The Ministry of Home Affairs used over K587 million from the emergency fund, reported Major General Aung Thu, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs. They spent this money to bring electrical services to four guard posts along the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Finally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs used over K800 million from the President’s Emergency Fund. U Te Khun Myat, the President of the Union Parliament, said that he is going to summon representatives from this ministry to explain how the money they were granted were spent.