At the beginning of this year, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi sat down with one of her advisers to go through priorities for the coming months. She began with an apology for the slow pace of economic reform.

"You must be very disappointed," she said. "You know, my plan had been that we would get the peace process done and then I would be able to bring my attention — personally — to the economy."

The remark, recounted by the adviser on condition of anonymity, offers a rare insight into Suu Kyi's thinking on what some critics say are the defining issues of her first year in power: continued fighting with ethnic armed groups in the north, sluggish progress on retooling an economy stunted by decades of military rule, and a reluctance to delegate power to others.