The Parliament has approved a proposal from the Minister of Finance U Win Shein, on August 13, to grant a MMK 410 billion loan at an interest of 4 percent per annum owing to capital deficit in state-owned enterprises under four Ministries.
The state-owned enterprises facing deficits are under the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Livestock-Fisheries, the Ministry of Electric Power and the Ministry of Industry. The loans will be provided by state-owned banks.
The Ministry of Electric Power will receive the highest loan amount of MMK 373000 Million. U Win Shein reported to the Parliament that over MMK 30000 million will be utilized for supplying electricity to Yangon.
The Ministry of Industry will receive a loan amount of MMK 33000 million in total. Likewise, state businesses under the Ministry of Livestock-Fisheries, will receive MMK 4000 million and businesses under the Ministry of Information will be granted MMK 60 million.
The Parliament had allocated around MMK 3700 billion to cover expenses of state-owned enterprises during the current financial year which started on April 1. However, five months after receiving the funds, the Ministries have been forced to borrow over MMK 410 billion from the government due to insufficient funds.
As per Section 15(D) of the Fiscal Law, the government is allowed to support state-owned enterprises financially or through loans, after prior approval of the Union Parliament.
U Win Shein assured the Union Parliament that the loans will be repaid with interest at the end of the fiscal year.
