"1. Introduction:This budget is a historic first budget of the National Unity Government, following a year of tumultuous and catastrophic change in our country brought on by the military junta. In delivering this budget statement, the National Unity government intends to present to our people and to friends of freedom around the world: • an assessment of our economy and of the military’s inability to arrest its unprecedented decline, • a statement on the efforts by the National Unity Government (NUG) to provide humanitarian relief directly by the NUG and through our partners across the country, • an enumeration of the NUG’s priority initiatives - to support the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), to expand access to life-saving assistance to those most impacted by the military’s actions, and to contain the spread of COVID-19 - which will be scaled up throughout this coming year, and • a vision as to how the NUG’s humanitarian efforts will support our people as they seek a return to peace, stability, and respect for the rule of law; as they set about rebuilding our country’s economy; and as we together bring about a democracy that embraces and serves all of our people. The release of this budget statement comes amid a period of chaos for people across Myanmar. Since 1 February 2021, the military has been solely responsible for creating a three-dimensional crisis - political turmoil and violence perpetrated by the military, an economy that has collapsed and remains paralysed, and the persistent threat posed by COVID-19. The military is actively manipulating each element of this crisis for its own enrichment and in ways that are exacerbating suffering throughout the country. The military’s only strategy is to wage a reign of terror. The military is failing and continues to fail in their attempt to break the people’s will and govern by fear. Against this backdrop, the people of Myanmar continue to stand alongside each other in solidarity. The people remain steadfast in their rejection of the military’s attempts to destroy our country’s future as part of their desperate efforts to preserve their own power and privilege. The NUG shall address each element of Myanmar’s present crisis in our role as the legitimate representatives of the democratic aspirations of the people of Myanmar. The NUG is working to reduce the harm suffered by those most impacted by the military’s actions and to shift the economic cost of this attempted coup to the military and those who prop them up. Doing so will help to amplify our people’s resistance and deliver change, as those across the country continue to deny the military and demand the return of legitimate government. With the release of this budget statement, the NUG also reaffirms its commitment to a Federal Democratic Union - a fundamental basis for security and prosperity for all the people of Myanmar. Not only we are working to hasten the end of the military’s role in political life, but with this budget statement, we are also working to prepare for the return to civilian rule. The priorities that follow each aim to help our people and to turn their sacrifice for freedom into the basis for such a Federal Democratic Union..."