THE COVID-19 Special Loan Steering Committee Meeting was held yesterday morning at the Internal Revenue Depart­ment, Office 46 and attended and delivered a speech by Union Minister for Finance and Reve­nue Dr Kan Zaw, who is also the Committee Chairman.

The meeting was also at­tended by heads of departments under the Ministry of Finance and Revenue, the Ministry of In­vestment and Foreign Economic Relations, and officials.

The Committee Chairman and Union Minister Dr Kan Zaw first said that the COVID-19 Spe­cial Loan Fund Account was established at K214.096 billion, which was transferred to the National Disaster Management Fund at Myanma Economic Bank in Nay Pyi Taw with the approval of the Central Com­mittee for COVID-19 Prevention, Control and Treatment and the Union Government. It aims to disburse loans to State-owned economic enterprises, Myan­mar-owned enterprises that cooperate with the State, which have been affected by the COV­ID-19 pandemic, to ensure the normal operation of businesses and economic recovery and to contribute towards the country’s economic development. Then, an additional allocation of K25.821 billion was received from the National Disaster Management Fund on 31 May 2023, and it be­came a total funding of K239.917 billion at the Fund. According to the approval of the “COVID-19 Special Loan Steering Commit­tee and Loan Screening and Supervision Team”, which was formed, the loans were screened and disbursed in line with the procedures of the Fund.

He noted that the previous meeting 3/2022 of the commit­tee was held on 14 September 2022 to discuss the possibility of disbursing loans to the avia­tion sector. He highlighted that now the “COVID-19 Special Loan Steering Committee and Loan Screening and Supervision Team” have been formed.

He noted that the COVID-19 Special Loan Fund provided loans to the aviation sector and the oilseed production sector to cover the cost of growing sun­flowers.

He noticed that some have been able to repay their loans in full, while some businesses are still paying off their loans, both principal and interest. Therefore, he highlighted that this meeting was convened to record loan disbursements, loan repayments, the progress of ef­fective loan use, and a review of the impact analysis.

Afterwards, the Committee Secretary and Managing Direc­tor of the Myanma Economic Bank presented about the es­tablishment of the COVID-19 Special Loan Fund, the imple­mentation and disbursement of loans, and the status of the documentation process to sub­mit to the Union Government every six months.

The committee members who are directors-general un­der the Ministry of Finance and Revenue and the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Eco­nomic Relations discussed the disbursement of loans from the Fund and finding ways to nego­tiate with businesses to repay their loans to the Fund in time.

The Union minister gave a concluding speech and then adjourned the meeting. — MoFR