Many Challenges Await, New Finance Minister Says

By The Irrawaddy 5 June 2018

YANGON — Myanmar’s new Planning and Finance Minister U Soe Win said on Tuesday that many challenges await, while vowing to the public that he would work hard to improve economic development.

As he was sworn in at the Union Parliament, the 80-year-old minister said that despite the fact that the government only has two and a half years remaining in its term, a lot of work could be done in that time.

“There are many challenges and those can’t be underestimated,” the minister told the media at Parliament.

He said that he would focus on coordination between departments and ministries to enhance performance, as his ministry has not earned public approval in the first half of the government’s term.

U Soe Win has more than 30 years of professional experience in international banking with the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and has been an adviser to Myanmar’s taxation, investment law and banking sectors.

The former Planning and Finance Minister U Kyaw Win resigned from his post after he was investigated for alleged bribery by the government’s Anti-Corruption Commission.

U Soe Win, a senior member of the National League for Democracy (NLD)’s Central Economic Committee, was appointed after the accused minister’s resignation and became the oldest minister in the National League for Democracy government.

The minister said on Tuesday, “I would like to urge [the public] to be patient and wait and see as we will try our best.”