CNI News
6 April 2025
The budget for emergency relief was insufficient because a lot of the budget is spent on military conflicts, chairman of the People's Party (PP) U Ko Ko Gyi told CNI News.
In addition, there are general deteriorations in the country, as well as corruption and weak personnel mechanisms, which have created weaknesses when it comes to implementing relief measures, he said.
"Many of our country's resources have been destroyed. Starting from the COVID pandemic, there have been political and military conflicts, floods, and now an earthquake. Again, the CDM issue has also weakened the education, health, and administrative sectors. So, it is true that there are weaknesses when it comes to emergency relief measures. Moreover, since a lot of the budget are spent on military conflicts, there are weaknesses when it comes to spending on emergencies." he said.
A donation event was held to help the people affected by the massive earthquake that struck Myanmar, raising a total of 116.84 billion kyats.
While U Zaw Zaw was donating money for earthquake relief
SAC Chairman Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said that up to 500 billion kyats will be used to carry out rehabilitation work in areas damaged by the earthquake.
Elections needed to be held early through which a parliament would emerge. If the people are aware of the country's budget flow, it could lead to a positive change, vice chairman of the National Democratic Force Party (NDF) U Htet Aung Kyaw told CNI News.
“During the governments led by President U Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi, the budgets were passed through Hluttaws, so the public knew how the budgets were spent. Now, the public doesn’t know where and how much the budget is spent. Now the Budget Committee only is making decisions how the budget will be divided. Under former governments,100 billion kyats had always been set aside as the President's emergency fund. Now we don't know whether there is still the emergency fund or not. So, elections need to be held as soon as possible. So, Hluttaws will emerge after elections. If Hluttaws emerge, the people will know the division of budget. This can lead to a positive change. So, we are always talking about holding elections." he said.
A very strong earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale and subsequent aftershocks struck Myanmar on March 28. The earthquake killed 3,085 people, injured 4,715, and left 341 missing in Sagaing, Mandalay Regions, and Naypyidaw Council area, according to the latest list released by the SAC as of 8 a.m. on April 3.
