Tay Za: Recession Taking a Toll

By MIN LWIN

Tay Za, one of Burma’s richest businessmen, met with senior executives of his Htoo Trading Co Ltd and affiliated companies on December 3 and told them that the global recession was severely affecting the country’s business climate, according to a source who attended the meeting.

The source said that Tay Za told senior managers and directors of his companies that Burma’s gross domestic product (GDP) would fall from US $3.6 billion in 2007 to just $2.6 billion in 2008 because of the global downturn.

These figures contrast sharply with international estimates of Burma’s GDP. According to the International Monetary Fund, the country’s nominal GDP in 2007 was $13.48 billion at the official exchange rate. The CIA World Factbook puts the figure for 2007 at $91.13 billion, based on purchasing power parity.

Tay Za attributed the decline to falling foreign demand for Burma’s main exports—natural gas, forest products, minerals, seafood and agricultural products.

Closely connected to Burma’s junta chief, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, Tay Za plays a major role in the Burmese economy. Htoo Trading’s business activities range from logging, tourism, hotels, air transport and construction to technological investment in the Yadanabon Cyber City in Mandalay Division.

The trade in forestry products was especially hard hit by falling demand, according to Tay Za. The source quoted him as saying that Htoo Trading currently has a stockpile of teak valued at $8 million. The company earned $6 million from sales of forest products last year, he said.

Members of Rangoon’s business community said that Tay Za’s tourism business has also been suffering since last year, due to the Burmese regime’s crackdown on monk-led protests last September, which drew strong international condemnation. The junta’s response to Cyclone Nargis in May of this year has also been highly criticized.

Tay Za’s meeting with executives took place just one day after Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein was reported in the state-run press as saying that the country would not be affected by the recession hitting the rest of the world.