Myanmar improved its ranking on the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report by six positions, coming in 165th place out of 190 countries on the index compared to 171st in the previous. The ease of doing business index in the report is released every year and based on 10 indicators. The country made strides forward in several areas and is among the top 20 reformers for the year.

In starting a business, Myanmar leap to 70th place from 152nd the year before. Just five years ago, it was the least favorable place in the world. Among the reforms taken to improve the ease of starting a business in the country included making the necessary information easily available. Entrepreneurs said the level of corruption and red tape has also fallen. Meanwhile, it now only takes two days to register a new company on the country’s new online MyCo system, for a fee of just K250, 000, which is lower than before. It is now also much easier to register a new property.

The country also made progress in dealing with construction permits. In that area, Myanmar is now ranked 46 compared to 81 before. Despite moving up in the ranks, Myanmar is still the least favorable country to do business among the ASEAN countries. There was no progress made in trading across borders and resolving insolvencies, while the country actually slipped in the ranks in areas such as supplying electricity and paying taxes. Getting credit, another area the World Bank considers for its index, needs to improve as well.

Source: Myanmar Times 

Myanmar plans to set up a second board by the third quarter of 2020, that foreigners can trade on to bolster its moribund stock market. Listing rules for the alternative venue will be less strict than on the Yangon Stock Exchange’s main market, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Myanmar said. The three-year-old main index has only five stocks and little trading.

Officials view deeper capital markets as key for faster economic growth. But efforts to attract investors have been hurt by a number of factors, ranging from regulatory hurdles to condemnation of Myanmar for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis. The YSX’s listing criteria are so strict that many companies don’t meet the minimum standards. More than 250 firms are potential candidates for the alternative market, which could be a stepping stone to listing on the main index. Companies have to meet 17 criteria to be eligible for the existing board, such as being profitable for at least two years and having a minimum of 100 shareholders.

Foreigners may be allowed to trade on the main exchange in the first half of next year, potentially beginning with expatriate permanent residents. The move could boost total trading value on the Yangon Stock Exchange’s existing Myanpix index, which slumped 81% to 14 billion kyat ($9 million) last year compared with 2016.

Source: Bloomberg 

The Myanmar economy is projected to grow by 6.6 percent in 2020, according to the World Bank, a tad higher than its 6.5pc projection for this year. Economic growth is expected to further increase to 6.7pc in 2021 and 6.8pc in 2022.

According to the annual World Bank East Asia and Pacific Economic Update, growth in 2020 will be driven by investments in the manufacturing, insurance and construction sectors and supported by market reforms. Policy reform measures like liberalisation of the insurance industry, visa-free policy for more foreign countries, tax amnesty scheme to mobilise hidden capital, among others, are expected to bear fruit.

However, the economy remains exposed to persistent downside risks, including natural disasters that still pose a huge uncertainly to the agriculture-dominated economy. Meanwhile, the impact of inflation and recently increased electricity tariffs to the general public remains to be monitored, while the ripple effect of the unresolved Rakhine crisis and persistent conflict drags on. Foreign investors remain cautious. Myanmar’s approved FDI has been in steady decline since 2015, from $9.5 billion, to $5.6 billion in 2018, with a slim chance to recover this year.

Source: Myanmar Times 

Myanmar has been ranked as one of the top 20 improvers in Doing Business 2020 by the World Bank, based on the number of reforms and the degree by which the country’s ease of doing business score has improved, state media reported.

Myanmar implemented five initiatives that enhanced its business environment. The city of Yangon imposed stronger construction quality controls by introducing stricter qualification requirements for architects and engineers, and invested in its water and sanitation infrastructure.

Additionally, Myanmar launched an online company registry platform, merging several procedures and reducing the need for in-person interaction. The country also made property registration faster by streamlining deed registration and appraisal.

Source: Mizzima

The inauguration of Myanmar Unicode migration took place on October 1, 2019. In her opening remarks, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who is also Patron of the e-Government Steering Committee said that the inauguration of Myanmar Unicode was an essential step to support the e-government programme. Myanmar has seen a 12-point increase in e-Government Development Index from level 169 in 2016 to 157 in 2018.

The e-Government was a system that conveyed the messages of departments to the public electronically. It was important to use a common standard communication system and language among the government ministries and its departments, inter-departments, the government and business companies, the government and public, inter-business companies, the business companies and the public and among the public. The use of Unicode standard system is an important stage under the e-Governance Master Plan.

The Unicode system meets international norms and Myanmar language writing system. The National Standard Council has approved the Unicode system with MMS ISO/IEC 10646:2017 on 21 September 2019. The languages of Myanmar ethnic people such as Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Chin, Mon, Rakhine and Shan could also be used in this system. The system was named as Unicode and the font was called Pyidaungsu.

Source: Global New Light of Myanmar 

The price of mung beans has shot up by K40,000 per ton within a week, said U Min Ko Oo, the secretary of the Myanmar Pulses, Beans and Sesame Seeds Merchants Association. The price of pigeon peas has also risen by K20,000 per ton. At present, mung beans are fetching K760,000 per ton, from K715,000, and pigeon peas (old stock) are priced at K830,000 per ton, from K810,000.

India, which is the main buyer of Myanmar pulses, has announced a quota of 150,000 tons for mung beans and 200,000 tons for pigeon peas for exporter countries. Besides India, Myanmar’s beans are purchased by Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Dubai, Malaysia, Indonesia, China (Taipei), Japan, and the European countries. But, the volume of demand is low, according to the domestic pulses market.

The Ministry of Commerce has been conducting a series of discussions to sell Myanmar’s beans through government-to-government (G2G) pacts. In addition, the ministry has been exploring more external markets. India’s move to restrict importation of pulses in August, 2017 severely affected growers in Myanmar. The price of pulses also plummeted drastically. In the 2017-2018 fiscal year, over a million tons of mung beans, pigeon peas, and green grams were shipped to foreign countries. But, the earnings totalled just $713 million owing to a price drop, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

Source: Global New Light of Myanmar 

The Myanmar-Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MHKCCI) was launched on September 3 to promote responsible investment in Myanmar and attract market entrants into the country. The event attracted more than 300 guests.

“Last November, I personally received a group of investors from Hong Kong and I am pleased to learn that a few of them are already considering to expand their manufacturing in Yangon, near the New Yangon City,” U Phyo Min Thein, Yangon Region Chief Minister said during the launch. Luen Thai Garment from Hong Kong is already employing some 8000 workers in Yangon, and new members of the Hong Kong manufacturing sector are most welcome.

The new chamber was eager to highlight its all-female secretariat headed by executive director Clara Tang, which reflects its emphasis on gender equality and female empowerment. MHKCCI director Thompson Chau from this paper stressed the importance of journalism for the private sector.

Source: Myanmar Times 

Uncertainty and seasonal factors have been leading more people to jump into gold as a safe haven, pushing up prices of the precious metal, gold traders in Yangon say. Local prices for gold reached K1.278 million per tical (roughly 16.33 grammes) on September 4. In April 2019, the price of gold was K 1.05 million a tical and has been gradually rising since.

U Myo Myint, chair of the Yangon Region Gold Entrepreneurs Association, said the association has issued rules for its members to follow, in order to stabilise gold prices. According to the association, members are now required to “deal only in cash transactions, not participate in futures contracts, and not undertake actions that may hurt the association’s reputation”.

Demand for pure gold is increasing at gold shops in each township, because people are worried about the economy and the stability of banks. During the early rainy season, local gold panning camps are closed. As no licence renewals are allowed, gold supplies become rarer. It is not uncommon that gold prices are high towards the middle and the end of the monsoon season. It normally rises, but there are some additional factors this year and thus gold prices are seeing record-highs. Gold entrepreneurs said the reasons behind price hike include decreased trust in the US dollar due to the China-US trade war, tensions between the US and Iran and rising prices in the international gold market.

Source: Myanmar Times 

Myanmar and South Korea signed five Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) on financial, trade and investment cooperation as well as infrastructure projects at the Myanmar-Korea Business Forum on Thursday, the 5th of September, 2019. South Korean President Moon Jae-in attended the forum to promote his “New Southern Policy” to deepen relations, including economic ties, with Southeast Asian nations.

During Moon’s trip, Myanmar and Korea signed a total of 10 MOUs and a framework agreement, including five MOUs and one agreement in Naypyitaw on Tuesday. These included government-to-government, government-to-business and business-to-business collaborations. The Myanmar government has also approved the “Korea Desk,” a single-window system designed to help Korean companies and investors deal with administrative issues.

According to the Ministry of Information, the Yangon regional government and KB Kookmin Bank—one of South Korea’s four largest banks—signed an MOU on financial cooperation in the real estate sector. Another MOU was signed with the Korean government-owned Korea Land and Housing Corporation to conduct a preliminary survey for the Dala New City Project. South Korea is also helping to build the Korea-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, which will link downtown Yangon to Dala Township.

The UMFCCI also inked MOUs with the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and Woori Financial Group (WFG) agreeing to cooperate on economic development, capacity building programs, trade promotion, exchange of economic information and arranging regular business meetups between the two countries. Additionally, SME-Development Bank signed an MOU with Industries Bank of Korea (IBK) to collaborate on capacity building and technical issues, and to share investment information between the two banks.

Source: the Irrawaddy 

Investors are showing keen interest in managing and distributing water in Yangon, with a total of 32 local and foreign companies having submitted expressions of interest (EOI) for the job since August 28, when the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) first announced its privatisation plans. The private sector has until October 28 to submit EOIs, after a tender process will be held.

Private companies will manage the supply and distribution of water in Yangon, however a ceiling price will be fixed to prevent water from becoming overly expensive. The YCDC currently collects K88 per unit of water for residential use and K110 per unit for commercial use. One unit equals 220 gallons. At those levels, water prices charged do not cover production costs, with the government subsidising the balance for the benefit of the public. To date, the YCDC has yet to increase water charges in the city, even though around half the water supplied is wasted.

Yangon city’s water distribution system covers only 45 percent of its population and as some townships in Yangon Region do not get enough municipal water. Poorer townships such as Hlaing Tharyar, Shwe Pyi Thar, Seikgyi Kanaungto and Dala get very little municipal water and face water shortages every summer. These townships get municipal water once in every two or three days. YCDC is currently undertaking water projects in Lagyun Pyin and Kokowa with the aim of distributing water to up to 90pc of the city in 2025.

Source: Myanmar Times