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Chapter 1067: Chapter 939: Dragging Down into the Water
The meeting had ended.
But the shock had not.
During the meeting, Lang Cai had announced on the spot,
"A loan of ten billion Asia Dollars to two states for infrastructure construction and other public projects expenditures."
And this was merely the first phase of the loan.
There would be a second and a third phase, though the amounts were yet to be determined.
But they definitely would not be as much.
Lang Cai would finance the road renovations and bridge construction, but the subsequent urban construction would require the two states to pay because, even for Lang Cai, affording the urbanization of two states was too much.
Of course, Lang Cai couldn’t produce such amounts either. Due to the rapid depreciation of the Myanmar Kyat, it was not trusted by Pan Cong and Dsvid; thus, the government of Myanmar could only borrow from Myanmar Bank.
The funds would be allocated to the two states in the form of project-targeted appropriations.
Only a small part of it was in cash, used for their day-to-day operations, and the method was similar to that used by Mozambique:
"----You build, I pay."
The contract stipulated that construction funds could not be used for non-operational account transfers.
Operational funds could not be used for cross-border payments.
To put it plainly,
this money could not be used by Pan Cong and Dsvid themselves or converted into dollars and transferred abroad to avoid capital outflow.
At the same time,
Myanmar Bank would also begin to open branches in both locations and conduct banking operations, but this had to wait until after the population census was completed; without ID cards, bank cards could not be issued.
Lang Cai initially wanted Myanmar Bank to fund the entire loan.
But Ling firmly disagreed; if it were a full loan, the debt would be on the Myanmar Economic Zone and the two states, and Lang Cai would have nothing to do with it.
How could that be possible?
Being generous did not work that way.
Moreover, Lang Cai and his colleagues were the legitimate representatives of Myanmar, so letting a local bank and district completely shoulder the loan was unreasonable; no one would be willing to be such a big sucker.
In the end, Lang Cai had no choice but to take on the debt himself again.
Thinking of owing Myanmar Bank another ten billion, Lang Cai could only console himself: after all, with more debts, just pay it back slowly.
Moreover,
whether it would be repaid was not yet certain.
...
Shan State.
Pan Cong was reviewing documents in his room.
These were all the law articles and organization regulations of Myanmar, delivered that morning for him to get an early grasp of his upcoming workload and expedite reforms in various aspects.
The first step was systemic reform.
Then the construction of the legal system.
A lot.
Very messy.
Pan Cong had read just two pages and wanted to tear up the books.
But that was just a thought, a momentary frustration; he had to continue reading.
Because he would need these laws to "govern by law" his jurisdiction in the future and could not behave as he had before; Lang Cai had pardoned all his previous crimes, and committing them again would be suicidal.
He would have to act within the boundaries of the rules in the future.
It was natural that he first had to understand the rules.
"Ding Ding Ding..."
Suddenly, the phone beside him rang.
"What? You’re saying the GDP of the Myanmar Economic Zone topped two hundred billion dollars in the first half of the year, are you sure it’s dollars and not Asia Dollars? Are you joking? Today is not April Fool’s Day."
This was heard from Mu Zhiwen, the head of the delegation from Shan State.
Pan Cong jumped up in shock.
Two hundred billion dollars.
What did that mean?
It was almost twice the GDP of Myanmar last year; he knew the Myanmar Economic Zone was wealthy and formidable, but this was frighteningly impressive, he hadn’t even brushed his teeth in the morning.
"Absolutely true, Ling himself said so, hundreds of people heard it, and you can see it on the news tonight too, Leader Pan Cong, they expect this year’s GDP to surpass five hundred billion dollars.
This has been personally confirmed by President Lang Cai and is absolutely true, it’s unbelievable, the Myanmar Economic Zone is too wealthy, their budget for the second half of the year will be four hundred ninety billion Asia Dollars."
Mu Zhiwen was calling back from Naypyidaw.
This meeting was not broadcast live but would be edited in the evening for television; although some media and radio would report it sooner, Pan Cong did not listen to the radio, and Shan State was not connected to the internet.
"Four hundred... ninety billion?" Pan Cong stammered.
That was just for the second half of the year.
You’re spending that much?
Do they have that much money?
"Fake, right? Ling doesn’t have that much money?" Pan Cong wondered.
"Their fiscal revenue for the first half of the year was only over a hundred billion Asia Dollars, but they own a bank; this time they were able to offer us a loan of a hundred billion. Four hundred billion is just a number in the bank," Mu Zhiwen emphasized.
"..."
Pan Cong gulped, damn, he also wanted to start a bank now, it made money so easily.
"You think we should have started a bank too?" Pan Cong said with a sullen face.
Upon hearing this, Mu Zhiwen knew Pan Cong was enviously resentful, his mind clouded by interests again, and quickly tried to dissuade him, "Leader Pan Cong, us starting a bank is completely unrealistic... "
Recalling the several obstacles discussed last time.
Pan Cong had to let go of this idea.
He could only hope that the fifty billion Asia Dollars would arrive soon, so he could quickly kickstart various projects. As long as there were projects, the construction funds could be turned into non-operational funds, which could be used for cross-border transactions.
Everyone would benefit.
And if the subsequent development went well and the situation remained stable,
he could also bring foreign funds into the country to invest in various projects, making a fortune. Even if he only achieved half or a third the economic size of the Myanmar Economic Zone, he would wake up laughing.
"So much money, will it cause devaluation?" Pan Cong asked again.
