THE government last month reiterated its call for importers and exporters in Myanmar to use euro instead of US dollars to open accounts for international trading.

The government has urged traders to conduct transactions using euro, Singapore dollars, Japanese yen and South Korean won since the US imposed economic sanctions against Myanmar in August 2003.

“Despite sanctions being imposed against Myanmar by some western countries, we have managed to continue to conduct international business using foreign currencies other than the US dollar,” the Minister of Finance and Revenue Major-General Hla Tun, said at a meeting at the headquarters of the Ministry of Commerce on January 27.

He also said that on January 20 the Bank of China was asked by its New York-based branch to stop conducting transactions with the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB).

Although the bank complied with the request, it did so “only with those accounts that used US dollars,” said Major-General Hla Tun, adding that Myanmar and the Bank of China “will continue to conduct transactions using other international hard currencies”.

He said outstanding payments to the Bank of China on closed accounts would be settled using euro rather than US dollars.

The Bank of China was established in 1912 and has played an important role in promoting China’s economic and social progress through its active involvement in the country’s international trade and financial activities. It now has 560 overseas offices in 25 countries.

About 50 per cent of the normal trade transactions between Myanmar and China are conducted through the Bank of China.