By THE IRRAWADDY 28 April 2020 YANGON—The Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) has cut its key interest rates by a further 1.5 percentage points as the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a toll on the country’s economy. This is the third time the CBM has reduced rates since it announced a 0.5 percentage point cut on March 12, followed by a further 1 percentage point reduction on March 24. In total, the bank has cut the rates by 3 percentage points in less than two months.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar announced Friday that it was releasing almost 25,000 prisoners under a presidential amnesty marking this week’s traditional New Year celebration. The release for the Thingyan holiday was announced in a statement from President Win Myint’s office. Mass amnesties on the holiday are not unusual, though the number this year was the highest in recent memory.

Reuters YANGON — Chinese automakers are ramping up local production in Myanmar as they go head to head with dominant and entrenched Japanese rivals in the fast-growing market. There was a fivefold increase in the number of new cars sold in Myanmar in the three years to 2019, when sales hit 21,916, according to data from the Automotive Association of Myanmar. The figure does not include cars sold by Chinese makers, which are not members of the association. But industry estimates put annual sales of Chinese vehicles at between 2,000 and 3,000 units, or about 10% of market share and growing rapidly.

Credit ;Nikkei Asian Review

Naypyitaw — Myanmar’s commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and his armed forces say they have collectively donated over 2.245 billion kyats (US$1.6 million) to be used in the prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19. The amount included a month’s salary of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior officers and a day’s wages for other ranks and civilian staff

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Myanmar Airways International announced that it will no longer be able to accommodate any inbound passengers, including Myanmar citizens stranded abroad effective 11:59pm March 30 until 11:59pm April 13.​​​​​

27 March 2020

Bangkok – As Thailand curtails economic activity and begins to close its borders to limit the spread of the COVID-19, thousands of jobless migrant workers from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic are returning home.

The announcement of wide-ranging business closures by Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang on 21 March and the subsequent Emergency Decree announced by the Thai Government on 26 March has also triggered a mass movement of Thai migrant workers from Bangkok to their home provinces.

The movements come at a time when Thailand and its neighbours are encouraging people to stay at home and enforcing social distancing to contain the virus, and could have unintended consequences, according to IOM Regional Migration Health Specialist Dr. Patrick Duigan.

“There is a risk that these returns could lead to the seeding of new clusters of the virus in areas of return, transmission among returnees during crowded buses and border crossings, and among those held in collective settings for quarantine,” he said.

U.S. military guard of honor carry a coffin covered with U.S. national flag during a repatriation ceremony at Mandalay International Airport Thursday, March 12, 2020, in Mandalay, central Myanmar. The U.S. military has repatriated what may be the remains of service personnel who were lost in action during World War II. The U.S. Embassy said the remains from Myanmar’s central Sagaing region were repatriated at the ceremony at the airport after being recovered in a mission carried out by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. (Thein Zaw/Associated Press)

YANGON – The U.S. Government has committed $1.8 million to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Myanmar from the Emergency Reserve Fund for Contagious Infectious Diseases at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID is providing these funds to the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and USAID’s “Breakthrough Action” program’s partners, Save the Children and Johns Hopkins University. Of the $1.8 million, USAID is providing $700,000 to WHO to support Myanmar’s COVID-19 readiness and response. USAID is providing UNICEF with $600,000 to support Myanmar’s risk communications. USAID is also providing $500,000 to USAID’s Breakthrough Action program, implemented by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communications Programs and its Myanmar-based partner, Save the Children, to amplify the spread of messaging and materials through Save the Children’s extensive network of local partners in Myanmar. These new activities complement USAID’s donation of 31,500 masks, 1,500 face shields, 1,500 gowns, 1,500 shoe covers, and 1,000 safety goggles to the Ministry of Health and Sports earlier this month to enhance preparedness for potential COVID-19 cases. The United States is also providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Sports from senior U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) epidemiologists. CDC provides technical support for active surveillance to enhance early case detection and to educate the health workforce of Myanmar. CDC is also providing laboratory technical assistance so that Myanmar public health professionals can best utilize the test kits and supplies provided by the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS), a joint U.S.-Thai collaboration, and other donors to Myanmar’s National Health Laboratory. For more information about novel coronavirus disease COVID-19, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html https://mm.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/ For more information about USAID’s response to COVID-19, please visit: https://www.usaid.gov/coronavirus-covid-19

Korea’s  largest trading company POSCO International said Monday it has discovered a new gas reservoir in Myanmar, where it is already operating a large-scale gas field. The company said it hopes to develop another gas field there pending positive evaluation of the deposit’s viability.