Parliament has passed the Union Budget Law for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, setting the year’s budget at MMK 34.1 trillion. That amount was reduced by MMK 520 billion from the first proposed budget, according to the Myanmar Times. A full 10% of the budget will go towards the Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s armed forces), which has been granted MMK 3.4 trillion — the smallest reduction in the revised bill. With an estimated revenue at MMK 27.8 trillion, the new budget will likely leave the spending deficit at MMK 6.2 trillion, the Myanmar Times reported.

The formation of next year’s budget presented several unique and unprecedented challenges. First, the upcoming fiscal year contains a general election, meaning the budget will span two governments, with the present parliament presiding over public spending only until the new parliament takes office next April. (Of course, it remains unknown how many incumbent parliamentarians will hold their seats.) Secondly, the fiscal year comes after a disastrous pandemic period in which projected GDP growth plunged from over 6% to between 1% and 2%, according to many estimates. The government has borrowed and spent billions of dollars to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. Protecting and rebuilding Myanmar’s economy will be possibly the greatest challenge for both the current and incoming government.