Myanmar woos foreign investors to ‘fast-growing’ Yangon

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Myanmar woos foreign investors to ‘fast-growing’ Yangon

By KHINE KYAW 
THE NATION 
YANGON

 

Thaung Tun, chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission and Union minister for investment and foreign economic relations, delivers a speech at the Yangon Investment Forum 2019 on May 10.

 

WITH MAJOR infrastructure and logistics initiatives being pushed, on top of being home to seven million people, foreign investors should not hesitate to invest in Yangon, officials told the Yangon Investment Forum 2019 on Friday.

 

Thaung Tun, chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission and Union minister for investment and foreign economic relations, said Myanmar’s commercial hub Yangon remains attractive as the nation’s premier investment location, ensuring a level playing field for all investors.

 

“Yangon has been the primary driver of our growth, accounting for 24 per cent of the country’s GDP [gross domestic product] and growing at an average of 9.2 per cent annually,” he said.

 

“The city is expected to grow to over 10 million people by 2030. It has the country’s largest concentration of young and well-educated population.”

 

He expects Yangon to become a major trade and logistics hub in Asean, as it has Myanmar’s largest air, rail and sea ports, which together serve as the primary ingress point for its imports, accounting for 85 per cent of the nation’s trade.

 

Traffic through Yangon’s ports continues to rise with a total of 2,267 vessels calling at the Yangon Port in the last fiscal year, increasing 13 per cent over the past four years. 

 

Yangon is also home to the Thilawa Special Economic Zone and 29 industrial zones.

 

“Myanmar’s investment landscape has undergone tremendous reforms in recent years, despite headwinds at home and abroad,” he said.

 

In order to ensure Myanmar maintains a favourable and friendly investment climate, the nation must lower the barriers to doing business as well as to eliminate challenges investors face when seeking to enter the market, he warned.

 

“We are pushing ahead with the establishment of a single-window system for investment facilitation,” he said.

 

“We have created MyCo, a new company registry platform, allowing companies to easily register online. We have digitalised much of the investment application process.”

 

Last year, the new Myanmar Investment Promotion Plan was launched to attract responsible quality investments. The government will ensure developing the private sector by supporting young entrepreneurs and empowering women.

 

“Their voices must be heard alongside more established players,” he said.

 

“We will continue to listen closely to the business community in order to better understand their needs and act accordingly.”

 

State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi said in a video address working together with the private sector would ensure a sustainable business environment.

 

“I am a strong believer in the power of collaboration to achieve Myanmar’s development goals,” she said.

 

She encouraged investors to consider public-private-partnership mechanisms, which could attract quality investors. She considered Yangon the “heart of enterprising Myanmar”.

 

Myanmar is currently developing the Project Bank, which will eventually serve as a one-stop digital information centre for strategic infrastructure projects. Upon completion, key information relating to the projects will be transparently disseminated.

 

“Once the development of the online database system is complete, access to key information will be available at the click of a button,” she said.

 

“This will enhance not only transparency but also predictability with respect to project identification and prioritisation, and will contribute towards creating a more secure investment enabling environment.”

 

Suu Kyi sees trade and investment as the two major drivers of Myanmar’s economic growth. She foresees a substantial increase in investment inflows into the manufacturing sector, as it accounted for 31 per cent of total investments and contributed to 24 per cent of GDP in fiscal year 2018.

 

“For those who are thinking of investing in Myanmar, we warmly invite you to come and invest here [Yangon], Asia’s final frontier economy,” she said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Economy/30369248

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-05-13

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[rskdev]

Forget about it. I have lived in MM for 9 years. This country now has rolling black outs that add up to a total of around 8 to 9 hours a day at any given time all over the country. They have not upgraded there Electrical Grid at all. Given all the new buildings that are going up whom ever is in charge has no forward thinking about the future demand on Electricity. It was better 10 years ago. Now it is below 3rd world infrastructure. And lets not get started with there Banking. Many other countries have black listed or have sanctioned Myanmar. Just try getting a bank wire transfer from a different country to Myanmar. Its a no go. I went to one Bank. CB Bank, I asked the Manager about Bank Transfers. She looked at me as if I was from a different planet. She had no clue as to what I was talking about.

 

Hopeless this country is!!!

[Penicillin]

51 minutes ago, rskdev said:

Forget about it. I have lived in MM for 9 years. This country now has rolling black outs that add up to a total of around 8 to 9 hours a day at any given time all over the country. They have not upgraded there Electrical Grid at all. Given all the new buildings that are going up whom ever is in charge has no forward thinking about the future demand on Electricity. It was better 10 years ago. Now it is below 3rd world infrastructure. And lets not get started with there Banking. Many other countries have black listed or have sanctioned Myanmar. Just try getting a bank wire transfer from a different country to Myanmar. Its a no go. I went to one Bank. CB Bank, I asked the Manager about Bank Transfers. She looked at me as if I was from a different planet. She had no clue as to what I was talking about.

 

Hopeless this country is!!!

Not to mention the nightmarish traffic jams. 

[saminoz]

I like it here.  Mind you, I have lived a long, long time in Africa where you can live for up to 90% of the time on generators.

Yangon traffic is nowhere near as bad as Lagos.

The people are simply very nice.

Accomodation ve expensive compared to Thailand.

Still, I am seriously considering starting a business here.

[Ulic]

I can't imagine any country but China making investments. 

[yellowboat]

So long as Aung Yang Sue Kie is still in charge, I will not do anything in Burma.  

 

[rskdev]

Yep, the chinks already have there tentacles involved over here. And not in a good way.

[Burma Bill]

4 hours ago, rskdev said:

Forget about it. I have lived in MM for 9 years. This country now has rolling black outs that add up to a total of around 8 to 9 hours a day at any given time all over the country. They have not upgraded there Electrical Grid at all. Given all the new buildings that are going up whom ever is in charge has no forward thinking about the future demand on Electricity. It was better 10 years ago. Now it is below 3rd world infrastructure. And lets not get started with there Banking. Many other countries have black listed or have sanctioned Myanmar. Just try getting a bank wire transfer from a different country to Myanmar. Its a no go. I went to one Bank. CB Bank, I asked the Manager about Bank Transfers. She looked at me as if I was from a different planet. She had no clue as to what I was talking about.

 

Hopeless this country is!!!

I personally disagree, even though you are/were a resident. In the past year I have experienced holidays based in Mandalay, Bagan and Hsipaw on the Upper Shan Plateau. During my time visiting, there was NEVER a power black out. My hotels were excellent, the Burmese people extremely friendly and the scenery fantastic. For me, it was the food without the dreaded chilies! I cannot comment on Rangoon until after my holiday there next week. Like Cambodia, the improvement of infrastructure has not kept pace with the increase in tourism but I am sure the Burmese will get there. Regarding banking, I was advised not to use the banks but to use the street money exchanges who give a better rate. All my hotel bills were paid with my VISA Debit Card (Thai Bank) with no problems.

[Tomtomtom69]

On 5/13/2019 at 8:18 AM, rskdev said:

Forget about it. I have lived in MM for 9 years. This country now has rolling black outs that add up to a total of around 8 to 9 hours a day at any given time all over the country. They have not upgraded there Electrical Grid at all. Given all the new buildings that are going up whom ever is in charge has no forward thinking about the future demand on Electricity. It was better 10 years ago. Now it is below 3rd world infrastructure. And lets not get started with there Banking. Many other countries have black listed or have sanctioned Myanmar. Just try getting a bank wire transfer from a different country to Myanmar. Its a no go. I went to one Bank. CB Bank, I asked the Manager about Bank Transfers. She looked at me as if I was from a different planet. She had no clue as to what I was talking about. 

 

Hopeless this country is!!!

Tell me about it. First time I transferred AUD to Myanmar they rejected it. Apparently converting it to Kyat is something they're incapable of. Second time to a different bank and for a different purpose, sent SGD, the only currency I could send. USD and EUR can't be transferred, at least not from a western country.

 

Still waiting for that money to be returned back to me, because apparently the receiving bank said it can't be credited to the recipients account because the purpose of transfer is not clearly stated (not true, i wrote a note stating the purpose) and it's not in USD but who says it needs to be in USD? Secondly, USD is illegal to transfer to Myanmar! Only SGD works. I have no idea if Thai banks can send USD to Myanmar, but Australian banks certainly can't.

[Mahseer]

On 5/13/2019 at 10:42 AM, yellowboat said:

So long as Aung Yang Sue Kie is still in charge, I will not do anything in Burma.  

 

You really believe she's in charge? Best not tell the Tatmadaw as they really will be surprised maybe even a touch disappointed.