Editing Economy of Myanmar (section)

===Foreign aid===
The level of international aid to Burma ranks amongst the lowest in the world (and the lowest in the Southeast Asian region)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wade |first=Francis |date=2 March 2011 |title=UK to become top donor to Burma |work=Democratic Voice of Burma |url=http://www.dvb.no/news/uk-to-become-top-donor-to-burma/14523 |url-status=dead |access-date=8 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927225912/http://www.dvb.no/news/uk-to-become-top-donor-to-burma/14523 |archive-date=27 September 2011}}</ref>—Burma receives $4 per capita in development assistance, as compared to the average of $42.30 per capita.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Burma |url=http://www.refintl.org/where-we-work/asia/burma |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117053045/http://www.refintl.org/where-we-work/asia/burma |archive-date=17 November 2011 |access-date=8 August 2011 |website=Refugees International}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=30 June 2011 |title=Australia's aid to Burma—Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) |url=http://www.ausaid.gov.au/country/burma/faq-burma.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117054501/http://www.ausaid.gov.au/country/burma/faq-burma.cfm |archive-date=17 November 2011 |access-date=8 August 2011 |website=AusAid |publisher=Government of Australia}}</ref>

In April 2007, the US [[Government Accountability Office]] (GAO) identified the financial and other restrictions that the military government places on international humanitarian assistance in the Southeast Asian country. The GAO report, entitled "Assistance Programs Constrained in Burma," outlines the specific efforts of the Burmese government to hinder the humanitarian work of international organisations, including by restricting the free movement of international staff within the country.  The report notes that the regime has tightened its control over assistance work since former Prime Minister [[Khin Nyunt]] was purged in October 2004.

Furthermore, the reports states that the military government passed guidelines in February 2006, which formalised Burma's restrictive policies.  According to the report, the guidelines require that programs run by humanitarian groups "enhance and safeguard the national interest" and that international organisations co-ordinate with state agents and select their Burmese staff from government-prepared lists of individuals.  [[United Nations]] officials have declared these restrictions unacceptable.

{{blockquote|The shameful behavior of Burma's military regime in tying the hand of humanitarian organizations is laid out in these pages for all to see, and it must come to an end," said U.S. Representative [[Tom Lantos]] (D-CA).  "In eastern Burma, where the military regime has burned or otherwise destroyed over 3,000 villages, humanitarian relief has been decimated.  At least one million people have fled their homes and many are simply being left to die in the jungle."}}

US Representative [[Ileana Ros-Lehtinen]] (R-FL) said that the report "underscores the need for democratic change in Burma, whose military regime arbitrarily arrests, tortures, rapes and executes its own people, ruthlessly persecutes ethnic minorities, and bizarrely builds itself a new capital city while failing to address the increasingly urgent challenges of refugee flows, illicit narcotics and human trafficking, and the spread of HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases."<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 April 2007 |title=Myanmar's rulers implement increasingly restrictive regulations for aid-giving agencies |work=International Herald Tribune}}</ref>