Japan Offers Burma $710 Mln in Loans

11 February 2013

Japan has officially offered Burma US $710 million worth of loans to be used for development projects, state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported on Saturday. The paper said about a third of the funds would be allocated to developing infrastructure projects, another third for the first development phase of Thilawa Special Economic and the remainder for upgrading Rangoon’s power supply infrastructures. Thilawa is a 2,400-hectare housing, commercial space and an industrial estate project planned about 20 km east of Rangoon. Following Burma’s political reforms, Japan has been swift to build up its economic ties with the country and it cancelled more than $3 billion of Burma’s foreign debt last month.