HOUSE OF THE WEEK
An abundance of space at FMI City
CERTAINLY, space is not a problem in this house – once you get there. Over the Hlaing River, 45 minutes from downtown, there is a large one-storey house in a big compound waiting for someone ready to trade time for space. ...moreMyanmar can do more to tap in to Asian growth: Stiglitz
FORMER World Bank chief economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz last week called on the government to open up Myanmar’s economy and further integrate with its neighbours so the country can “benefit from the economic growth in the region”.
Speaking at a press conference in Singapore on December 21 following his eight-day visit to Myanmar, Professor Stiglitz said the country was still over-coming the fallout from the global financial crisis, Cyclone Nargis and climate change.
“Even a country that is not integrated in the global economy is affected by the recession,” Professor Stiglitz said. “Recovery from the crisis has been much stronger in Asia. Asia is likely to be a source of economic growth. One of the messages [for Myanmar] is that, to the extent they become integ-rated into what is going on regionally, they will benefit.”
Myanmar also needs to make a concerted effort to develop so it does not fall further behind other countries in the region.
“In economics you have to run to stay still. The world is changing and you have to change too,” he said. But development needs to benefit the general population, he added.
“You can build big engineering projects but for the projects to be effective you have to get down to the farmer,” he said.
Professor Stiglitz visited Myanmar at the invitation of Bangkok-based UN agency Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and met with senior government officials in Nay Pyi Taw on December 15 for a roundtable discussion and Development Forum.
He said there were four main points that came out of the meetings: rural credit, investment in education, appropriate use of oil and gas revenues and the need for inclusive political processes.
“If you don’t renew your human capital it depreciates just like fiscal capital,” he said, pointing out most well-educated civil servants are now in their 50s.
Increased rural credit could also improve productivity, he added. “The cost of credit in rural areas is as high as 10 percent a month,” he said, referring to a study presented by Ms Ikako Okamato, of the Australian National University, at the Development Forum.
