Govt must maintain momentum of reform, says World Bank official

Maintaining the momentum of economic reform is one of the main challenges facing the government, says a senior World Bank official.

“The World Bank can see some tangible results from economic reforms but the government needs to maintain the momentum,” May Thet Zin, the bank’s country economist for Myanmar told Mizzima in an exclusive interview on November 13.

May Thet Zin said the other main challenge for the government was the ability to enforce the laws and regulations being introduced as part of the reform process.

“The government is drafting and enacting many laws, rules, regulations and by-laws but it must be able to enforce them,” she said.

May Thet Zin said it was untrue for anyone to claim that the government was doing nothing.

“They are changing, they are reforming,” she said.

Responding to May Thet Zin’s comments, economic affairs columnist Hla Maung identified two factors necessary for maintaining momentum in the reform process.

Hla Maung said they were capacity building at the highest level of government, including President Thein Sein, and ensuring that there was an awareness of economic policy among the lowest levels of management in the public service.

“Only in this way can the momentum in economic reform be maintained,” he said.

Hla Maung said those at the highest level of government talk a lot about the policies and strategies they have adopted and implemented “but the lower level is not aware of them.

In another response, Myanmar Rice Federation executive member Nay Lin Zinsaid red tape was one of the limitations to implementing the policy changes made as part of the economic reforms of the past two years.

“Far-reaching policy changes have been made in company registration, trade and other areas but an obstacle to implementing them is the red tape that still exists in the bureaucratic machinery,” said Nay Lin Zin, who is also managing director of Excel International Trading Co. Ltd.

“No matter what changes have been made at the upper level, the lower level has not changed accordingly,” he said.

Myanmar’s economic policy under military rule relied on using income from the farm sector to build the manufacturing sector.

But in a major policy change, President Thein Sein announced in his first State of the Union address on March 31, 2011, that both sectors would be developed simultaneously.

source: Mizzima

http://www.mizzima.com/business/economy/item/10574-govt-must-maintain-momentum-of-reform-says-world-bank-official