David Abel

David Oliver Abel (; 28 February 1935 – 18 January 2019) was a Burmese economist, retired Brigadier General in the Myanmar Army and former cabinet minister. He served variously as Minister of Commerce, Minister of Finance and Revenue, and Minister of National Planning and Economic Development. At one time, he ran all three ministries simultaneously. He was considered the country's economic czar throughout the 1990s.

Abel retired from the State Peace and Development Council and vacated his position as the Minister of the Chairman's Office on 25 August 2003.

Early life and education Abel was born in 1935 in Insein, near Rangoon, but his family's roots were in Maymyo (now Pyin Oo Lwin). Abel's father, Alfred T. Abel was a Burma Railways engineer, while his mother Daw Chai, was a senior school teacher.

Abel matriculated from Maymyo's Saint Albert's Catholic Missionary School in 1951.

Military and governmental career Abel had served as the personal assistant of then-President General San Yu of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. He retired the Tatmadaw in 1991 as a Director General of Procurement, with a rank of Brigadier General. Abel serving in the military, he has received many honors.