WBG Governor's Statement No. 5 - October 15, 2020 - Statement by the Hon. U Soe Win, Governor of the Bank for Myanmar

Jul 19, 2026

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This statement by the Hon. U Soe Win, Governor of the Bank for Myanmar, presents Myanmar’s perspective at the 2020 Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group. It highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the second wave, has disrupted socioeconomic conditions, weakened fiscal revenues, and widened financing needs. The statement details Myanmar’s COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan with its goals, strategies, and actions, and explains fiscal measures to strengthen resilience. It also describes external support and financing channels, including IMF rapid facilities, World Bank credit and grants, ADB program support, and DSSI relief for eligible countries, alongside governance and transparency commitments for emergency funds.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

WBG Governor's Statement

COVID-19 impact and the second wave

COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP)

External financing, collaboration, and DSSI

IMF, World Bank, and ADB support measures

Governance, transparency, and public response

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized WBG Governor's Statement No. 5 October 15, 2020 Statement by the Hon. U SOE WIN, Governor of the Bank for MYANMAR Statement by the Hon. U Soe Win, Governor of the Bank for Myanmar Honorable Chairman, Fellow Governors, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my pleasure to represent the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar in the 2020 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. On behalf of Myanmar, I would extend my sincere thanks to organizing staff of this virtual meeting for their excellent arrangements. As we all know, our development agenda have been undermined by the COVID-19 pandemic and the poorest have inevitably suffered its impacts the most. First, most countries could control its spread to the some extent. However, the impacts of the crisis have unfortunately reoccurred again as the second wave. Even though Myanmar withstood the first wave of the virus without much loss, it is now experiencing the second wave which has a substantive impact on the country’s socioeconomy. In fact, we are aware of the expected increase in public expenditure, with a shortfall in public revenue due to the global pandemic and assume it can lead to a higher budget deficit since the beginning of this year. Myanmar economy was recorded 6.8% in FY 2018-2019 and 6.0% in the first six months of FY 2019-2020. However, the outbreak of the global pandemic has made significant effect on the Myanmar economy. Economic impact of COVID-19 has manifested in Myanmar in the form of disrupted supply chain, trade flows, remittance, and cessation of tourism. To mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, Myanmar has announced the COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP) on 27 April 2020 as a comprehensive economic stimulus plan. The CERP is a collection of pro-poor and pro-MSME policy measures designed to not only buffer against adverse effects of the pandemic but also to boost economic activities in the most vulnerable and strategic sectors in the economy. CERP has 7 Goals, 10 Strategies, 36 Action Plans and 76 Actions covering a broad range of extraordinary fiscal and monetary measures combined with broad-based programs of tax relief and moratorium, targeted countercyclical and expansionary policy measures including specialized lending programs for smallholder farmers, microfinance institutions, and civil servants, MSMEs, restaurants and teashops, etc. In conjunction, the Government has created a special COVID-19 Fund via reallocation of budget from line ministries so that it can exercise a greater degree of fiscal resilience and flexibility in designing and implementing programs and policies against ever-evolving economic challenges induced by the pandemic. The Government is determined to formulate and implement requisite policies and programs to counterbalance the adverse economic impacts of the pandemic. With the possibility of a growing financing gap due to COVID-19, the role of external financing and international collaboration has become more significant. To narrow the financing gap for public programs formulated in the CERP, the Government has been working closely with a plethora of development partners including World Bank, IMF, ADB, and JICA. Stress and strain to our fiscal space has been further relieved by Debt Service Supervision Initiative (DSSI) for IDA countries and LDCs by G20 . Our fiscal space is also buttressed by reallocation of non-essential expenditure from FY 2019-2020 budget to finance the implementation of CERP. In order to allocate more to the State Budget, the General Reserve Fund for FY 2019-2020 over Kyat (1000) billion (around USD 806 million) has been transferred to Natural Disaster Management Fund of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement for ensuring sufficient State Budget in conducting COVID-19 prevention, control and treatment activities. The Government envisions th

FAQs

What did the statement emphasize about the impact of COVID-19 on Myanmar?

It emphasized that the development agenda has been undermined by COVID-19 and that the second wave now has a substantive impact on Myanmar’s socioeconomic conditions, including fiscal pressures and higher budget deficit risk.

What is the COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP) and what does it include?

CERP is Myanmar’s comprehensive economic stimulus plan announced on 27 April 2020. It is designed for pro-poor and pro-MSME support and includes 7 goals, 10 strategies, 36 action plans, and 76 actions, covering fiscal and monetary measures such as tax relief, moratoriums, and targeted lending.

Which external partners and facilities does the statement reference for financing and support?

It references IMF rapid facilities (RCF and RFI), World Bank credit and grants including PEF support and activation of contingency components, ADB’s CARES program, and relief related to the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) under G20 for eligible countries.

Jul 19, 2026

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