Japan readies 100bn yen in lending for Myanmar
Japan plans to extend about $994 million in low-interest lending to Myanmar for such projects as railways and water treatment plants, the latest step in Tokyo’s push to bolster ties with the Southeast Asian country. This would mark Japan’s first development financing initiative for Myanmar since Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy party formed a government in March. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will announce the plans during the September 6-8 Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Laos. The financing is to fund five projects including repairs to railways connecting Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, with the second-largest, Mandalay, in the north. It will also cover water treatment facilities in Yangon, as well as road development in rural areas and other poverty relief measures.
