Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said: “The previous government got foreign loans and grants, but we did not get these foreign funds when we took power”, at a meeting with businessmen from Tanintharyi Region on 5 November.

But, he claimed that the economy was doing well, despite not getting any foreign loans and grants because the junta has made great efforts to promote the economy.

He said that despite those efforts the economy is still in decline because the ongoing political conflict made it hard for the junta to improve the country’s economy.

He claimed that previous governments had made his task harder by neglecting the manufacturing sector.

He said: “The two previous democratic governments did not support the domestic manufacturing sector. They ran the economy with foreign loans, grants and foreign exchange earnings obtained from the non-trade sector.”