Foreign investor interest in Myanmar appears to be waning at a time when the global economy is losing momentum, if recent data is anything go by. As such, a hard reset of the local capital market is needed to ensure the business environment remains friendly to existing firms and entrepreneurs, as their survival and growth […]
Foreign insurance firms may start operations by April 2019: regulator
December 20, 2018 by
Qualified foreign insurance providers will receive licenses to operate in Myanmar by April next year. “I can assure it is happening within the next 16 weeks,” U Thant Sin, Director of the Financial Regulatory Department under the Ministry of Planning and Finance, said during the UK Capital Market and Insurance Conference in Yangon on December […]
Corporate Japan urges Myanmar to address business concerns
December 10, 2018 by
The most senior Japanese business leader in Myanmar urged the government to recognise how liberalisation, efficient bureaucracy and reliable power supply allowed Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to attract considerable investments. He also warned that current restrictions placed on foreign firms in the retail and wholesale sector are already “the maximum” but commended the ministry’s […]
New policies unavoidable if Myanmar is to keep up in AEC
September 20, 2018 by
With just three months remaining before it is due to join the Asean Economic Community (AEC), time is running out for Myanmar to improve its economic policies and prepare local businesses for foreign competition. By January 1, 2019, Myanmar, together with the other CMLV countries, which includes Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, will officially be part […]
Local retailers balk at foreign competition as economy slows
September 18, 2018 by
While opening up the domestic retail and wholesale sector to foreign ownership has succeeded in generating rising investor interest, local concerns over the move by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) have also grown. Chief among those concerns is foreign competition. In fact, local retailers say there should be restrictions placed on foreign firms that directly […]
Local log exporters concerned about foreign competition
October 10, 2017 by
LOG exporting businesses in Myanmar have requested the government to hold tenders only open to domestic log traders. Log merchants have called for the Myanma Timber Enterprise (MTE), which is under the Ministry of Resource and Environmental Conservation, to hold separate tenders for local wood-based industry merchants engaging in the business of exporting logs of […]
Myanmar Rice firms wary of Ministry plans to open up market
August 27, 2013 by
“We can’t compete with foreign companies,” said Myanmar Rice Federation’s central executive committee member U Soe Win. “This is not the right time to give them permission to enter the wholesale market. We are just starting to do business openly. Why let them in at this moment?” His comments follow reports that the ministry’s directorate […]
