Myanmar restricts exports to BD via Maungdaw

Staff Reporter :
Myanmar’s junta has prohibited the export of various food commodities to Bangladesh via Maungdaw, Rakhine State, local media reported yesterday.

The move comes following a decision by Bangladesh’s Sonali Bank to freeze two major Myanmar banks’ assets, reports Myanmar Now, a Yangon-based news agency.

According to the report, the military regime’s ministry of commerce announced on 1 September that the restricted goods-including rice, beans, peanuts, and onions-must be shipped only through the commercial zone in the Rakhine State capital of Sittwe, saying the order would come into effect on September 4,” reports the news agency.

“Sonali Bank imposed restrictions, which could lead to the smuggling of people and goods,” said Myint Thura, director general of the junta commerce ministry’s trade department.

“That is why people need to export through Sittwe, to prevent smuggling.”

State lender Sonali Bank recently froze $1.4M in accounts of two junta-controlled banks – Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB), Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB)- following a request from the US government to the Bangladesh Foreign ministry, The Business Standard reported on 16 August.

Later on 5 September, the Bangladesh Bank advised all not to conduct any transactions with the two banks in Myanmar that are under US sanctions. MICB and Sonali first signed a contract to allow for such transactions in 1995, under Myanmar’s previous military dictatorship, stimulating bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

However, Bangladesh’s ambassador to Myanmar met with military junta chief Min Aung Hlaing on September 6 to discuss bilateral trade and cooperation between the two countries, according to reports in junta-controlled newspapers that day.

According to the junta’s commerce ministry, the total value of goods exported to Bangladesh via Maungdaw exceeded US $4.5 million between April and August of this year.