Yangon- Myanmar, which faces economic sanctions in the West because of its poor human rights record, earned 2.7 billion dollars from natural gas exports to Thailand last year, media reports disclosed Tuesday.

In 2007, Myanmar's total trade hit an historic peak of 8.7 billion dollars, split into 5.9 billion exports and 2.8 billion in imports, leaving the country with a trade surplus of 3.1 billion, said the Myanmar Times weekly, citing government officials.

Myanmar's exports last year were driven primarily by natural gas, which earned the impoverished country 2.7 billion dollars, or 45 per cent of its total exports.

"The major reason why Myanmar's trade volume is increasing is the massive contribution form the energy sector - the export of natural gas to Thailand," said Maung Maung, an economist and researcher from Economic Studies and Research Institute, the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industries
(UMFCCI).

Natural gas exports have risen dramatically since 2002, when Myanmar first opened a pipeline to deliver gas from offshore reserves in the Gulf of Martaban to Thailand.

"As a result, Myanmar has enjoyed consecutive trade surplus since 2002," said Myanmar's Commerce Minister Brigadier General Tin Naing Thein in a recent interview.

Besides natural gas, Myanmar's main export items last year included agricultural products, amounting to 572 million dollars in earnings, gems and jewellery to 561 million, and fishery products to 366 million.

The country's main imports were fuel, which cost 471 million, followed by textiles at 276 million, palm oil at 251 million, machinery parts at 243 million, and automobiles at 192 million.

Most multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, severed their programmes with Myanmar in 1988 following a brutal military crackdown on a pro-democracy movement that left more than 3,000 people dead.

The US forbid its private sector from investing in the country in the early 1990s, after the ruling junta refused to acknowledge the outcome of the 1990 general election, and the European Union has placed visa restrictions on the regime's rulers.

US and EU Sanctions were tightened after another crackdown on protesters in September, when a sudden doubling of fuel prices prompted demonstrators, led by Buddhist monks, to take to the street on Yangon.

The latest incident left at least 31 dead, according to official estimates.(dpa)