Sittwe homes searched for arms

Special search teams consisting of policemen, soldiers and administrators looked for homemade weapons like sticks, swords and spears.

“As far as I know, they found no big weapons during the search,” one of the team 

members said.

The teams also inspected houses of Bengalis where they found no dangerous weapon except common kitchen utensils, officials said.

The violence in the state left 36,000 homeless, bringing the total number of displaced to 110,000 since June, according to sources.

 

Mandalay to face rice shortage

Mandalay Region in central Myanmar is likely to face rice shortage by the end of this year as lesser rainfall forced farmers to replace paddy with crops such as peanut, green peas and other beans, according to sources.

The local authority has assigned more than 600,000 acres for rice cultivation this year, said the country’s agricultural sources. However, farmers only used 100,000 acres to grow paddy.

“Authorities tried their best to expand the rice cultivation areas to maintain food security in the region. But this year the bad weather hampers the rice production in the region,” said an official from Mandalay Rice Traders’ Association. “Mandalay is likely to face rice shortage.”

 

Interest rates ‘need to be reduced’ 

Myanmar’s inflation rate was 2.82 per cent in the 2011-2012 financial year and, therefore, the government should reduce the bank interest rate, finance observers said.

Myanmar’s current bank interest rate is 10 per cent. The interest rate for deposited money  is 8 per cent and the interest rate for borrowing money 13 per cent. 

“Businessmen coming from  countries with low bank interest rates borrow money from banks in their countries  and then save their money in a Myanmar bank. They are taking advantage of the rate gap between the two countries. Myanmar’s rate is higher than other countries. Therefore, the government should bravely reduce its bank interest rate,” said adviser Than Lwin of the Ministry of Finance and Revenue.