Myanmar president names Deloitte partner new finance minister

Yangon

MYANMAR'S president on Monday nominated 80-year-old Soe Win, a well-known financial professional, as the next finance minister after the previous one resigned, amid reports he was being investigated over graft accusations.

The appointment, expected to be confirmed by parliament this week, will probably reassure potential investors worried about the slow pace of financial reform and a lack of focus on the economy by the administration of Aung San Suu Kyi, analysts said.

Mr Soe Win, the managing partner of Deloitte & Touche in Myanmar, previously worked at Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank before launching a second career as a consultant on tax and investment for international corporations.

Parliament posted his biography on its official Facebook page, along with a brief post saying: "Myanmar President has sent biography of the nominated person, Soe Win, for the position of the Union Minister of Finance and Planning."

Government spokesman Zaw Htay and permanent secretaries at the Ministry of Finance and Planning were not immediately available for comment.

The presidential office has not explained why the outgoing minister Kyaw Win resigned from the finance post last week.

Mr Kyaw Win and the government have also not commented on media reports that he was under investigation by Myanmar's Anti-Corruption Commission.

Mr Soe Win joined a Myanmar state-owned bank in the early 1960s before a stint as a trainee at National Westminster Bank and the Bank of England in mid-1970s, according to a biography on the website of the Renaissance Institute.

He is a board member of Renaissance, a think-tank that advises the government on economic policy.

Myanmar Vigour, a business advisory agency he founded in 2003, became a member firm of Deloitte in 2015, according to the biography.

Nearly five decades of army rule has left Myanmar mired in poverty and plagued by corruption. Economic growth, while still relatively strong, has slowed along with foreign direct investment since Ms Suu Kyi came to power in 2016.

Apart from criticism over sluggish economic reforms, Ms Suu Kyi has also faced international condemnation for a military operation that has sent nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh, according to the United Nations and human rights groups. REUTERS