Stiglitz wants Burma to once again be the rice bowl of Asia.
Posted on December 16, 2009
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Joseph Stiglitz
Nobel Prize winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz says Burma is well positioned to learn from other countries in the region that have developed economically following improvements in agriculture.
Stiglitz is in Burma at the invitation of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). He has been discussing strategies for Burma to reduce poverty. In a UN statement, he said Burma should take a comprehensive approach, promoting access to appropriate agricultural financing and boost access to seeds and fertilizers.
He also said, the country should dramatically boost spending on health and education, and create well-paid jobs in construction of rural infrastructure to stimulate development and raise incomes and spending.
It all sounds good! But, just a minute… Isn’t this the country whose health system was ranked second worst in the word by the World Health Organisation; The same country that left hundreds of thousands of its own citizens to starve to death after Cyclone Nargis; The same country that after accepting the magnitude of that disaster, put up barriers that prevented international aid from reaching those that needed it most?
The Burmese government might have requested the development partnership with ESCAP, but whether it has the will to follow through on any of these ideas remains to be seen.
The statement quotes Stiglitz as saying, “well-functioning institutions were critical to success, stressing that revenues from oil and gas can open up a new era, if used well. If not, then valuable opportunities will be squandered, he warned, adding that economics and politics cannot be separated.
He got that right.
Does he really expect the generals to divert money away from the military to help the poor? On past performance, one has to feel that is not likely to happen.
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