NAY PYI TAW, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar still owes a total of 8.742 billion U.S. dollars of foreign debt although the country paid 344.316 million U.S. dollars to the creditors in the previous fiscal year 2015-2016, U Maung Maung Win, Deputy Minister for Planning and Finance told the House of Representatives Tuesday.
According to the statistics of the ministry, the total foreign debt of the country amounted to 9.08 billion U.S. dollars as of March, 2015. That amount has been loaned during the period since 1988.
Myanmar owed most of the debts with Paris Club members, including China, Japan, World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
In 2013, the Paris Club, an informal group of creditors whose objective is to find workable solutions to payment problems faced by debtor nations, had cancelled 5.925 billion U.S. dollars of debt from its members to Myanmar.
As a developing country, Myanmar is always encountering budget deficit. Therefore, the country has to take external debt in order to fill the vital needs. According to the current expenditure budget of the country, budget deficit in this fiscal year 2016-2017 reached 3,992 billion kyats (3.36 billion U.S. dollars).
