In Yangon on July 11, Min Aung Hlaing attributed the country’s lack of development progress to conflicts, political instability, and disagreements. During a meeting with business owners in Meiktila, Mandalay Region, he made these statements while presenting contradictory views about economic development. While asserting that benefits can only be achieved through self-effort regardless of which government is in power, he claimed that development initiatives have not achieved desired results due to ongoing conflicts, political instability, and disagreements within the country.
He provided detailed figures showing significant losses in the agricultural sector in the Meiktila region. During the 2023-2024 fiscal year, monsoon rice production fell below targets, with an average yield of only 62.65 baskets per acre, representing a shortfall of 37.35 baskets from the target. With rice prices at 22,000 kyats per basket, this resulted in a loss of 10.369 billion kyats. The entire Meiktila district experienced substantial losses across various crops, including monsoon rice, summer rice, groundnuts, sesame, sunflower, and green peas, totaling approximately 980 billion kyats.
The breakdown of losses in the Meiktila district showed 79.791 billion kyats lost in monsoon rice production, 4.6 billion kyats in summer rice production, 46.895 billion kyats in groundnut cultivation, and 580.48 billion kyats in sesame production. These figures demonstrate significant shortfalls across all major agricultural products in the region, indicating a severe agricultural crisis. The detailed statistics presented reveal the extent of the agricultural sector’s underperformance compared to established targets.
On July 2, he also strongly contested the World Bank’s negative economic growth forecast for Myanmar. He criticized the World Bank’s revision of Myanmar’s economic outlook from a positive 2.5 percent growth to a negative 2.5 percent, claiming their calculations lacked accuracy and completeness. However, his own revelations about significant losses in the agricultural sector, particularly in the Meiktila region, appear to confirm the economic challenges facing the country. The substantial financial losses in crop production and the failure to meet agricultural targets across multiple crops provide tangible evidence of the economic difficulties, despite his attempts to dispute international assessments of Myanmar’s economic situation.
