Nobel Lau­re­ate Joseph Stiglitz just com­pleted his trip to Burma, also known as Myan­mar. The nation run by a cruel mil­i­tary junta asked the econ­o­mist to visit and help turn Burma’s eco­nomic for­tunes around. How­ever, crit­ics say that Stiglitz is just being used by the mil­i­tary to deceive it’s public.

From the IPS, reporter Stanis­laus Jude Chan attended a press con­fer­ence where Stiglitz announced what he found.

At a press con­fer­ence organ­ised here Mon­day by the United Nations Eco­nomic and Social Com­mis­sion for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Stiglitz expressed opti­mism over the prospects for change in Burma’s rural econ­omy. “In gen­eral, there is the hope that this is the moment of change for the coun­try,” Stiglitz said.

The for­mer chief econ­o­mist of the World Bank was in Burma last week to meet with the state’s Agri­cul­ture and Rural Devel­op­ment Min­is­ter Maj Gen Htay Oo and National Devel­op­ment Min­is­ter Soe Tha. He was part of a mis­sion organ­ised by ESCAP aimed at assess­ing and improv­ing Burma’s rural economy.

ESCAP held a wide-ranging dia­logue with the South-east Asian state to boost the country’s agri­cul­tural sec­tor and to help it reclaim its sta­tus as the rice bowl of Asia. It was a “moment of hope,” said Stiglitz.

“This is the moment of change for the coun­try,” opined the noted econ­o­mist. “And it would be a mis­take to miss this moment.”

But some are scep­ti­cal about the changes that Stiglitz and ESCAP expect to bring to a coun­try still ruled by a regime noto­ri­ous for its oppres­sion and secrecy. “The same as the junta’s sucker bait,” charged one irate mem­ber of the audi­ence, as he marched up to Stiglitz after the con­fer­ence. The col­lo­quial phrase sug­gests a scheme to deceive the igno­rant.
…

Based on his talks with farm­ers dur­ing his visit to Burma, Stiglitz iden­ti­fied the high cost of credit in the rural areas, with inter­est rates of at least 10 per­cent a month, as one of the issues Burma will have to overcome.

“Irri­ga­tion has increased the poten­tial for pro­duc­tiv­ity, but because many could not get credit to buy fer­tiliser and for hydro-electricity, the full poten­tial could not be reached,” he said.

He urged the Burmese gov­ern­ment to pro­mote access to appro­pri­ate agri­cul­tural financ­ing, to boost access to seeds and fer­til­iz­ers as well as spend­ing on health and edu­ca­tion, and cre­ate well-paid jobs in rural infra­struc­ture con­struc­tion in order to stim­u­late devel­op­ment and raise incomes and spending.

“If you don’t renew your human cap­i­tal, it depre­ci­ates, just as fis­cal cap­i­tal depre­ci­ates,” Stiglitz said as he urged the coun­try to do more to bridge the demo­graphic gaps in edu­ca­tion in the country.

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