The National Unity Government (NUG) has called to its Ministry of Planning, Finance and Investment (MPFI) to set up an interim central bank, through the issuing of an ordinance on 1 June.
The union minister of the MPFI will become the chairman of the Board of Directors and the governor of central bank that will conduct international and domestic operations as befitting a central banking authority of Myanmar, and to exercise oversight and issue licences to companies and institutions applying to operate as banks and financial institutions, the NUG says in a press release.
“The interim central bank is also intended to alleviate the losses of the people, to regulate and rectify the banking sector, and to forestall and safeguard the foreign exchange reserves belonging to the people from misuse in the terrorist endeavours of the military,” according to the ordinance.
The NUG stepped up its movement in this sector as the central banking mechanism under the military junta has disregarded their obligations to safeguard the interests of depositors, and its functions are being operated under the dictates of the military regime, leading to severe and intolerable losses of the people.
The shadow government said that formation of an interim central bank could forestall and safeguard the foreign exchange reserves belonging to the people from misuse in terrorist endeavours of the military in procurement and production of weaponry and jet fuels used in violent attacks on civilians.
At this stage, it is not clear how the NUG and the MPFI intends to do this on a practical level.
The military junta delivered over US$1.43 billion worth of natural gas from Rakhine State to China last year, according to the report of Burma News International, adding that successive Myanmar governments earned billions of US dollars from Rakhine’s natural resources export to China every year, while Rakhine is the second poorest state in Myanmar.
In its 2022 report, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) quoted official figure of military junta that Myanmar earned more than $106 million from exports of timber products in less than a year.
