Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB) are state-owned financial institutions in Burma that primarily function as foreign currency exchanges and enable the conversion of kyat to U.S. dollars and euros and the reverse. This conversion allows Burma’s revenue-generating state-owned enterprises, including Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), access to international markets using offshore accounts and to transact more easily with foreign entities. While MFTB and MICB allow MOGE and other state-owned enterprises access to foreign markets for revenue generation, these financial institutions also enable Burma’s Ministry of Defense and other sanctioned military entities to purchase arms and other materials from foreign sources.
Burma’s Ministry of Defense, MFTB, and MICB are being designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for being political subdivisions, agencies, or instrumentalities of the Government of Burma.
On February 10, 2021, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701–1706) (IEEPA), issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14014 of February 10, 2021, “Blocking Property With Respect to the Situation in Burma” (86 FR 9429, February 12, 2021).
In E.O. 14014, the President determined that the situation in and in relation to Burma, and in particular the February 1, 2021 coup, in which the military overthrew the democratically elected civilian government of Burma and unjustly arrested and detained government leaders, politicians, human rights defenders, journalists, and religious leaders, thereby rejecting the will of the people of Burma as expressed in elections held in November 2020 and undermining the country's democratic transition and rule of law, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.
OFAC is issuing the Burma Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 525 (the “Regulations”), to implement E.O. 14014, pursuant to authorities delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury in E.O. 14014. A copy of E.O. 14014 appears in appendix A to this part.
The Regulations are being published in abbreviated form at this time for the purpose of providing immediate guidance to the public. OFAC intends to supplement this part 525 with a more comprehensive set of regulations, which may include additional interpretive and definitional guidance, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions. The appendix to the Regulations will be removed when OFAC supplements this part with a more comprehensive set of regulations.
