Myanmar official defends fuel price hikes that sparked protests

MANILA, Philippines: A recent increase in fuel prices that sparked a series of rare protests in Myanmar was triggered by spiraling global oil prices and was not a political move, a diplomat from the impoverished Southeast Asian nation said Sunday.

Myanmar could no longer afford to subsidize fuel so heavily because of the steep increases in oil prices worldwide, Thaung Tun, Myanmar’s ambassador to Manila, told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a regional ministers meeting in the Philippine capital.


Myanmar activists have speculated that the slashed subsidies