World Bank says it won't provide loan or financial aid to Myanmar

The World Bank will not give any financial aid or loans to cyclone-hit Myanmar because the military-ruled country has been in arrears with the lender for a decade, a top bank official said Tuesday.

Managing Director Juan Jose Daboub said the World Bank is working closely with Southeast Asian countries by providing technical support to assess damages in Myanmar and help plan economic reconstruction in the military-ruled nation.

"But the bank cannot legally provide any (financial) resources to Myanmar because it is in arrears with the bank since 1998," he told reporters after giving a lecture at a Singapore university.

Daboub ruled out the possibility of making an exception for Myanmar, which claims that losses from the recent Cyclone Nargis exceeded US$10 billion and is preparing to host an aid donor conference.

"At this time, we are not in a position of providing resources to Myanmar," he said.

At least 134,000 people were killed or left missing in the May 2-3 cyclone and another 2.5 million people are living in poor conditions, most of them without shelter, enough food, drinking water or medical care.

The United Nations and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Myanmar, are jointly holding an International Pledging Conference in Yangon on Sunday to seek some of the needed funding.

Myanmar, which has been under fire for blocking foreign aid into the country, caved into international pressure Monday and agreed to let its ASEAN neighbors oversee redistribution of foreign aid.

At an emergency meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers Monday, Myanmar also agreed to open its doors to medical teams from all ASEAN countries but access for foreign relief workers is still limited. (****)