With the Industrial Design and Trademark Laws enacted in January, the Patent Law enacted in March and the Copyright Law in May, the year 2019 marked the start of a significant move towards stronger intellectual property (IP) protections in Myanmar. The country previously relied on colonial-era legislation, but the implementation of these regulations will bring Myanmar in line with international…
As Myanmar is liberalising its economy, an increasingly wide range of traditional business practices and structures are being challenged. These range from how to raise finance to how to attract and keep talented employees, with changes in corporate governance now seen as a vital step to ensure sustainable future growth. Transitioning to new ways of doing business is not always an easy task,…
In 2019 Myanmar’s Internal Revenue Department (IRD) pushed forward with two major reforms – a new tax law and a new tax administration law. The first of the two, the Union Tax Law (UTL 2019), passed by Parliament in September 2019, drew headlines for granting tax amnesty to citizens with undisclosed sources of income. The law brought other important changes too, and demonstrated the government’s…
As the world’s nations and businesses become increasingly interconnected, so too does the flow of global migration. According to the OECD’s “International Migration Outlook 2018”, in 2017 some 258m people resided in a country other than the one they were born in, and more than 5m foreign-born persons settled in OECD countries. The flow of migration is believed to not only improve the…
Myanmar is now one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia Pacific, with a key geostrategic location, abundant natural resources and a youthful population underpinning its progress. It is also a country that has achieved much in a relatively short period of time, after only setting out on the path of liberalisation and democratisation back in 2011-12. Since then GDP, personal incomes, international…
Interview: Melvyn Pun In what ways can the authorities encourage greater activity on the Yangon Stock Exchange? MELVYN PUN: It is clear that the exchange still has a long way to develop. Foreign investors are now legally permitted to own local companies’ shares, and officials are working to develop and enable the trading and clearing systems that are needed to support such foreign investment in…
Interview:Daw Cherry Trivedi What are the main issues standing in the way of effective corporate governance? DAW CHERRY TRIVEDI: The traditional corporate governance structure, as found elsewhere in the world, does not exist in Myanmar. What exists instead is a hierarchical, founder-based structure with centralised power around one individual. There tends to be a topdown approach with very…
Interview:U Soe Win In what ways will public-private partnership (PPP) projects be facilitated through the PPP Centre? U SOE WIN: The new PPP Centre’s primary function is to identify and implement high-quality and bankable PPP projects to help bridge our substantial infrastructure gap. It will also help advance the working relationship between the public and private sectors, better leveraging…
As Myanmar is liberalising its economy, an increasingly wide range of traditional business practices and structures are being challenged. These range from how to raise finance to how to attract and keep talented employees, with changes in corporate governance now seen as a vital step to ensure sustainable future growth. Transitioning to new ways of doing business is not always an easy task,…
In 2019 Myanmar’s Internal Revenue Department (IRD) pushed forward with two major reforms – a new tax law and a new tax administration law. The first of the two, the Union Tax Law (UTL 2019), passed by Parliament in September 2019, drew headlines for granting tax amnesty to citizens with undisclosed sources of income. The law brought other important changes too, and demonstrated the government’s…
