Mizzima/Myanmar News-Nov 26
A meeting regarding the submission of the additional Union budget for the 2024-25 financial year took place at the office of the State Administration Council Chairman in Naypyidaw on 20 November. Attended by Financial Commission Vice-Chairman and Vice-Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Vice-Senior General Soe Win, the meeting approved a budget at this meeting of over 41,000 billion Kyats. The initial budget estimate for expenses in this fiscal was over 39,000 billion Kyats. Additional expenses increased it to over 41,000 Kyats. Estimated receipts for this fiscal year are over 35,000 billion Kyats, resulting in a budget deficit of nearly 7,000 billion Kyats. The expenses for this fiscal will be record-high compared to the expenses in FY 2023-24 of over 30,000 billion Kyats. The Vice-Senior General said that Head of State, Min Aung Hlaing, had given guidance to raise expenditures for defense and security measures. The SAC reduced expenditures in education and health but they allowed more defense spending despite a reduction in imports due to a need for foreign exchange. Some ministries surrendered their surplus budget but expenditure by the Ministry of Defense were greater than the estimated budget.
The SAC used to publish budget estimates but this fiscal year they did not publish it. Experts in government spending predicted that defense spending will take the lion’s share from the entire budget. Read more at:
