CHATRIUM HOTEL ROYAL LAKE YANGON 40 Natmauk Road, Tamwe Township +95 1 544 500 info.chry@chatrium.com www.chatrium.com Rooms: 300 rooms and suites, including 175 deluxe rooms (40 sq metres), 89 Chatrium club rooms (40 sq metres), 15 studio suites (61 sq metres), 15 deluxe suites (75 sq metres), 5 luxury suites (85 sq metres) and 1 royal lake suite (300 sq metres). Business & Conference…
Interview:Peter Crowhurst How would you characterise Myanmar’s overall business and investment environment? PETER CROWHURST: There is a strong community of people bringing new business opportunities to Myanmar. Local firms are looking to find good investments and gain the confidence of financial institutions. The banks, meanwhile, are working to clean up the sector and come closer in line…
Interview:Nick O’Donohoe Where can development finance be most effectively deployed in emerging economies? NICK O’DONOHOE: Agriculture will always be a critically important sector for development finance institutions. In the countries that we serve, and indeed in most emerging markets, agriculture still employs a significant proportion of the population. From a development perspective,…
Interview:U Than Myint To what extent has the trade dispute between the US and China impacted the attractiveness of Myanmar as an investment destination? U THAN MYINT: The trade dispute has created a more favourable investment environment for Myanmar as China looks to alternative markets for its products. To fully take advantage of this, the government and private sector should increase outreach…
Interview: U Thaung Tun How are regulatory improvements encouraging foreign direct investment (FDI)? U THAUNG TUN: In accordance with liberal economic principles, the liberalisation of the retail, wholesale, education, insurance and banking sectors shows that we are working hard to open up to foreign investment. This change is rapid, but we want to ensure that the investment environment is favourable,…
Interview:Christopher Loh Where do you see the greatest potential for growth in Myanmar’s banking sector? CHRISTOPHER LOH: Myanmar is a cash-based society, and the road towards modern methods of banking will require a change of mindset. One way to catalyse this is to undermine pre-existing perceptions. Take, for instance, with our mobile banking platform – we have eliminated the fees for…
Interview:Linus Goh How do you assess the strength of Myanmar’s banking regulatory framework? LINUS GOH: In the past couple of years the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) has strengthened the governance standards for the domestic banking sector. These changes are appropriate and in line with global standards. That said, the market remains a frontier one, and is at an early stage in its development.…
Interview:U Thant Sin Maung What progress has been made regarding the implementation of the e-government programme? U THANT SIN MAUNG: In Myanmar every sector still needs to be developed, so the implementation of government-wide digitisation is a sizeable task. We have been rolling out our e-governance master plan since 2016, and we have already seen tangible results. In the most recent UN…
Interview:Alok Kumar To what degree has digitisation affected Myanmar? ALOK KUMAR: When it comes to business operations, there is strong appreciation for the need of digitalisation. However, onboarding is slow and back-end processes remain largely manual. We have not yet reached the critical mass necessary for transformation, and unless the whole ecosystem has this momentum it will be difficult…
Interview:Rorce Au-Yeung How would you describe the evolution of the power tendering process in Myanmar? RORCE AU-YEUNG: Since 2014 there have been very encouraging developments in the legal and regulatory framework for energy tenders. Although Myanmar is not a market defined by certainty, there are well-established systems to operate within. Contracts can take some time to be fully negotiated,…
