The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Myanmar’s government-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, or MOGE.
According to a statement Tuesday from the U.S. Treasury, the action was taken to curb the growth of Myanmar’s ruling junta. MOGE is a main source of revenue for the military government that has used money from the enterprise to purchase military weapons and material from abroad.
The action prohibits some financial services, including loans, accounts, insurance, investments and others by Americans to the state oil and gas enterprise starting on Dec. 15, the statement said.
The sanctions stop short of fully blocking MOGE. The government-owned company was not added to the Specially Designated Nationals list, which bans its trade with Americans and freezes its American assets, effectively kicking it out of the American banking system.
The United States will also be coordinating sanctions with Canada and Britain in an effort to ally the three countries and promote further action against Myanmar’s military leaders.
“We urge the international community to step up action to address the worsening human rights, humanitarian, political, and economic crisis in Burma,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Additionally, the United States imposed sanctions on three entities and five individuals, who have been designated to support the military rule in Myanmar.
Since the military coup in 2021, the United States has faced calls to tighten sanctions on MOGE from human rights groups, which have accused the current Myanmar government of human rights violations.
Some information in this report was taken from Reuters
