Myanmar Market Data

Republic of the Union of Myanmar

Urbanizarion: urban population: 34% of total population (2010) rate of urbanization: 2.9% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)

Myanmar Economy: It is a resource-rich country, suffers from pervasive government controls, inefficient economic policies, corruption, and rural poverty. Despite Myanmar's emergence as a natural gas exporter, socio-economic conditions have deteriorated under the mismanagement of the previous regime. Approximately 32% of the population lives in poverty and Myanmar is the poorest country in Southeast Asia. The business climate is widely perceived as opaque, corrupt, and highly inefficient. Wealth from country's ample natural resources is concentrated in the hands of an elite group of military leaders and business associates. In 2010-11, the transfer of state assets - especially real estate - to military families under the guise of a privatization policy further widened the gap between the economic elite and the public. The economy suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances - including multiple official exchange rates that overvalue the Burmese kyat, fiscal deficits, lack of commercial credit further distorted by a non-market interest rate regime, unpredictable inflation, unreliable economic data, and an inability to reconcile national accounts. Myanmar's poor investment climate - including weak rule of law - hampers the inflow of foreign investment; in recent years, foreign investors have shied away from nearly every sector except for natural gas, power generation, timber, and mining. The exploitation of natural resources does not benefit the population at large. The most productive sectors will continue to be in extractive industries - especially oil and gas, mining, and timber - with the latter two causing significant environmental degradation. Other areas, such as manufacturing, tourism, and services, struggle in the face of poor infrastructure, unpredictable trade policies, undeveloped human resources (the result of neglected health and education systems), endemic corruption, and inadequate access to capital for investment. Private banks still operate under tight domestic and international restrictions, limiting the private sector's access to credit. The United States, the European Union, and Canada have imposed financial and economic sanctions on Myanmar. US sanctions, prohibiting most financial transactions with the country’s entities, impose travel bans on senior Myanmar military and civilian leaders and others connected to the ruling regime, and ban imports of Myanmar products. These sanctions affect the country's fledgling garment industry, isolate the struggling banking sector, and raise the costs of doing business with Myanmar companies, particularly firms tied to Myanmar regime leaders. In 2011 the government took initial steps toward reforming and opening up the economy by lowering export taxes, easing restrictions on its financial sector, and reaching out to international organizations for assistance. Although the Myanmar government has good economic relations with its neighbors, significant improvements in economic governance, the business climate, and the political situation are needed to promote serious foreign investment.

Sources: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bm.html http://www.networkmyanmar.org/component/content/article/57/US-Myanmar-Relations-2012

http://www.china.org.cn/business/news/2009-01/22/content_17169174.htm http://www.foreigntradeexchange.com/countries/china.html http://www.export.gov/china/Contact%20China%202008.pdf http://www.indexmundi.com/china/ http://www.thechinaguide.com/money/money3.html http://www.fedex.com/us/international/irc/profiles/irc_cn_profile.html?gtmcc=us http://export.gov/china/doingbizinchina/eg_cn_025706.asp

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