While the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) was formally established in 2015, financial cooperation across the region remains somewhat fragmented. Goods and services move freely between countries, but banks, stock exchanges and securities companies tend to be limited to their home markets. Since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, ASEAN has remained focused on integrating regional financial markets.…
Bank lending in Myanmar has soared since 2011, as the country’s democratic transition and economic liberalisation kick-started business and investment activities across multiple sectors. However, low credit access remains one of the most serious challenges facing businesses in the country. Limited availability of critical business and consumer data, coupled with the country’s lack of a credit bureau,…
Currency depreciation continues to challenge macroeconomic growth in Myanmar, with the kyat losing more than 65% of its value against the US dollar between 2014 and 2018, straining import-dependent manufacturers and causing inflation to spike. More recently, the kyat lost 18% of its value against the US dollar between April and August 2018. The Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (MSDP), a detailed…
While 2018 is unlikely to earn the description of a time of significant global trade cooperation, the year did end on a note of cautious optimism for advocates of open trade, when, at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, the US declared a 90-day truce in its 10-month-long trade war with China. It is hoped that this ceasefire will stand, leading to talks between the world’s two largest economies in the…
Myanmar made significant strides in macroeconomic policy-making in 2018 with the release of the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (MSDP), a long-term strategy aimed at achieving peace, economic prosperity and sustainable growth. The MSDP is much more in-depth, detailed, and actionable than previous policies, with stakeholders praising government efforts to implement hundreds of reforms under five…
Although Myanmar’s economy has grown above the regional average in 2018, a fall in overseas investment, crop losses and a weakening of the kyat have combined to slow the pace of economic growth. However, moves to open up sectors of the economy to foreign ownership may boost inward investment in the coming year. According to estimates by the Asian Development Bank released in September 2018, Myanmar’s…
Offering a range of attractive investor incentives, Myanmar’s special economic zones (SEZs) hold significant potential to attract new foreign direct investment (FDI), support industrialisation and manufacturing activities, and boost employment and export receipts. The country’s sole operational facility, the Thilawa SEZ, has already become a magnet for FDI inflows, with its second phase of development…
One of the most significant legal reforms undertaken to improve the investment climate in Myanmar has been the promulgation of the 2017 Myanmar Companies Law (MCL), which sets new criteria for company classification and is expected to help boost foreign direct investment inflows, which have slumped in recent years. After a lengthy delay, the new law came into effect in August 2018, marking an important…
In May 2018 local energy firm Elite Petrochemical inaugurated the first stage of a $128m LPG import and distribution facility in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone, located 25 km south of Yangon. The terminal and hub, developed under a build-operate-transfer model, includes a jetty for cargo handling and a 3000-tonne storage tank farm. The second stage, currently under construction, will expand…
In January 2018 the Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MoEE) authorised four major power projects using its new “notice to proceed” approval process. If brought to fruition, these projects will collectively add more than 3000 MW of generation capacity to the national grid. Three projects will make use of imported LNG and are located at Ahlone in Yangon Region, Kanbauk in Tanintharyi Region,…
