How the military controls Myanmar's economy

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2021

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Myanmar's military has announced it has taken control of the country, a decade after agreeing to hand power to a civilian government. Tin Htar Swe OBE, Myanmar analyst and former editor of the BBC Burmese Service, recounts the history leading up to this emergent coup, and where it might lead. Meanwhile, Vasuki Shastry, Associate Fellow at Chatham House's Asia-Pacific Programme, explains how the military have shaped Myanmar's economy and what effect international sanctions might have on their continued hold on it. And Rocco Macchiavello, lead academic with the International Growth Centre Myanmar, explains how, or if, Myanmar can continue its high economic growth seen over the last decade.

Producer: Frey Lindsay.

(Image credit: Getty Images.)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello there, I'm Ed Butler and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.
0:05.8	Today, following the military takeover in Myanmar, we're asking, is money the driving force behind the coup?
0:14.0	If you've got civilian rule to reduce the influence of the army in business,
0:19.3	it seems obvious that maintaining and protecting economic
0:22.9	interests was probably front and centre on the mind of the generals. So how should the world react?
0:29.5	Are there economic measures that the international community can take to influence Myanmar's generals?
0:35.8	We have been through this before for many years, for 40 years under the military government.
0:42.1	Western government put pressure, imposed sanction on the military government,
0:46.2	but nothing seemed to work.
0:48.3	They refused to give up the political power.
0:51.8	Following the money in Myanmar, business daily from the BBC.
1:00.3	The sound there of an elected member of Parliament being filmed by his wife as soldiers enter his home and arrest him early on
1:13.6	Monday morning. Dozens of Aang San Suu Kyi's ruling National League for Democracy were seized
1:19.0	this way as news of the military coup, including the arrest of the country's state counsellor and
1:24.5	figurehead, Aang San Suu Kyi herself, spread through the streets of Yangon.
1:29.1	There was an uneasy quiet. It was made quieter still by the restriction of many phone and broadband networks,
1:35.6	although there were some people celebrating the news.
1:38.5	Yeah. Yeah, these supporters of the military leadership were parading in vehicles, crowing over their NLD rivals.
1:55.9	Only a few government supporters were brave enough to go out and express their outrage at what had happened.
2:05.6	I feel like the army assaulted the people because they took over in a coup of our civilian government elected by our people.
2:13.7	Our country is just a bird, learning to fly.
2:16.5	And now the army broke our wings.
	...

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