World Bank refuses loan to Myanmar

Published: May 20, 2008 at 1:52 PM
Order reprints
YANGON, Myanmar, May 20 (UPI) -- The World Bank is refusing to loan money to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar, saying the country has been in arrears with the bank since 1998, bank officials said.

Representatives of The World Bank will attend a donor conference organized by the United Nations and the Association of South-East Asian Nations, but "cannot legally provide any resources," the bank's Managing Director Juan Jose Daboub told Ihe Daily Telegraph newspaper in London.

Myanmar's ruling military junta has provided assistance to only 20 percent of the cyclone's 2.5 million survivors who are in desperate need of food, water and shelter, the report said.

Beggars line the streets along roads in the Irrawaddy Delta, but the government has distributed newspapers asking motorists not to help, as it will "make them lazy and dependent on others," the Telegraph reported Tuesday.

The military government has also blocked foreign aid, fearing it will undermine their authority, the report said.


© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



8 of 11 women found at dump site ID'd (6 min)
Joe Sakic retires after 20 NHL seasons (8 min)
People want to know more about their food (10 min)
Sarkozy to Iran: Respond to overtures (12 min)
15,400 file claims against Madoff (15 min)
Coburn claims privilege on Ensign advice (20 min)
Ensign admits family paid $96K to lover (24 min)
fark
Photoshop this artistic smoker
Swami Baba Ramdev has challenged a landmark Indian court ruling legalising gay sex, claiming it...
AZ man blows a smooth .40 with almost sober looking mugshot
When trying to get away from the police, driving off a boat launch only works on tv and the movies....
Sears, Kmart already selling Christmas merchandise
MoveOn.org draws a crowd of 30 demonstrators in Alabama. None miss work