Myanmar abolishes dollar surrogate, no time frame given
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Buy SPH photosYANGON (AFP) - Myanmar on Wednesday announced the abolition of its US dollar proxy currency, in the latest step towards economic normalisation as the impoverished former pariah opens to the world.
More than US$30 million (S$37.5 million) worth of Foreign Exchange Certificates (FEC) will be phased out of existence, Finance Minister Win Shein said in parliament, without giving a timeframe for the move.
The currency, introduced by the former junta two decades ago as an alternative to the US greenback - which it officially banned - is no longer required, he said.
"A scheme will be set up to systematically abolish FECs in collaboration with the Central Bank of Myanmar, government banks, private banks and related organisations," Win Shein told MPs.
