ข่าวเศรษฐกิจและธุรกิจประจำสัปดาห์

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  Minister of Planning and Finance plans to grant K100 billion loans for fishery sector development following the Myanmar Fishery Federation's request for low interest rate loans during the regular meeting between the Vice President and local businesses

  The Ministry of Planning and Finance is planning to grant K100 billion in loans to help fishery sector develop. Myanmar Fishery Federation called for low interest rate for the loans at the regular meeting between Vice President No.1 and local businesses. The ministry will give loans for fish seeds, prawn seeds, land and SMEs when necessary. “If we get the loans, we will use them for necessary things such as investments for increasing fish and prawn production, technology and export,” U Htay Myin, President of Myanmar Fishery Federation, said. With the plan of increasing Myanmar’s fish and prawn production, businesses are planning to increase fishery products export up to over $2.3 billion in next one or two years. Private sectors will invest in using technologies and building fishery farms, fish food production facilities, cold storage facilities and value added factories to export good quality products. This will also create up to over 100,000 job opportunities as construction processes will be implemented using both local workers together with foreign experts from the countries such as Indonesia, Taiwan and China.
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  In order to meet the urgent need for storage facilities across Myanmar, the outdated regulations prohibiting construction of modern warehouses should be reformed immediately (U Aye Thaung, Chair of Shwe Lin Ban industrial zone)

  Despite an urgent need for storage facilities across Myanmar, there are still numerous empty warehouses at vacated industrial sites. At the same time, outdated regulations prohibiting construction of modern warehouses at industrial zones should be reformed immediately, said U Aye Thaung, chair of Shwe Lin Ban industrial zone. “In other countries, services that support the main industrial, agriculture and manufacturing sectors such as logistics, distribution and marketing are given top priority. But in Myanmar, many warehouses are left vacant and the support services sector is still not developed,” he said. That has to change in order for the economy to expand further. In Yangon, most warehouses are located inconveniently far away from the industrial zones, which adds to transport and logistics costs. Currently, warehouse facilities are usually leased in Shwepyitha, Dagon Seikkan, Hlaingthaya and Thaketa townships in Yangon. “When leasing a warehouse, the location is important. For example, it is very convenient for CityMart in Thaketa to have a warehouse within the same area,” said U Nay Lin Zin, joint secretary of the Myanmar Rice Federation.
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  Myanmar insurance sector will be liberalized to attract expertise, technology, and development: the Myanmar insurance market is hugely untapped and big opportunities lie in health insurance

  Insurance providers in Myanmar can expect a more competitive and promising landscape on which to do business in the near future. With market liberalisation, which will enable firms to offer a wider variety of insurance products, on the government’s agenda, local and foreign providers alike have already started training staff and building management and IT systems to prepare for growth. However, regulations paving the way for the needed range of products and to end state-controlled pricing over existing ones are still lacking. Meanwhile, a timeline on when an approved regulatory framework addressing how local insurance providers can work with foreign firms has so far been elusive. Liberalising the insurance sector is important not just because penetration rates in Myanmar remain the lowest in the region. Enabling global insurance providers to operate here will help the country develop a deeper bond market, enabling the government to raise sovereign debt to plug the budget deficit. The government currently relies heavily on central bank borrowing to fund the deficit, which leads to high inflation. Insurance firms are among the biggest investors in sovereign bonds.
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  The Confederation of Trade Unions in Myanmar (CTUM) has established a Women Workers' Centre in Yangon to empower female workers in their profession

  WITH the income generated by women much needed for the support of their families owing to a 37.5 per cent poverty rate, Myanmar’s largest workers organisation – the Confederation of Trade Unions in Myanmar (CTUM) – has opened a Women Workers’ Centre in Hlaing Thar Yar township of Yangon region. CTUM’s president MaungMaung said the centre would be open daily to provide female workers with knowledge essential to improving productivity in their profession. He expected the centre to play a key role in fulfilling the needs of Myanmar’s female workers. “It is like a meeting point for women to share experiences and to be empowered to get involved,” he said. “Before opening this centre, we tried to find out what the problems of women workers are and how we can help to bridge the gap. They have problems such as a lack of labour rights knowledge and basic health knowledge, which leads to a high turnover and lower productivity at work.”
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  Asian Development Bank (ADB) urged investment reforms as Myanmar’s GDP growth picks up to 6.8 percent in 2017 from 5.9 percent in the 2016 fiscal year

  YANGON — Myanmar’s GDP growth picked up to 6.8 percent in 2017, from 5.9 percent in fiscal year 2016, according to the Asian Development Outlook 2018, which urged greater liberalisation of foreign direct investment (FDI) procedures. Ms. Yumiko Tamura, the principal country specialist at the Asian Development Bank and author of the report’s Myanmar chapter, said that while the government has made progress in liberalising and rationalising FDI procedures, there is still scope for further policy improvements. She recommended shortening the time-requirement for the screening and approval of investments and removing restrictions on certain activities, including foreign equity holdings and capital repatriation by foreign businesses in Myanmar.
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  The number of Japanese companies’ investment in Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) reached over 45 as of March in the 2017-2018 fiscal year: most are investing in the manufacturing sector

  Japanese firms have invested most in productivity sector in Thilawa Special Economic Zone and the number has reached over 45, according to the zone management committee. "Most companies entering the zone are from Japan. There are about 45 or 47. They mostly invest in manufacturing sector," said Dr Shwe Hein, secretary of Thilawa SEZ Management Committee. Businesses from 17 countries are investing in the zone and out of 89 factories approved, 39 are said to be running. Till March in 2017-2018 fiscal year, a total investment of about US$400 million had come to Thilawa SEZ under the special economic zone law, according to Directorate of Investment and Company Administration.
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  Yoma Bank and Maha Agriculture Public Co has announced the completion of a MMK 3.5 million (USD2.6 million) funding agreement in support of Maha Agriculture’s lending activities in Myanmar, which will enable Maha Agriculture to reach an additional 6,000 farming families

  Yoma Bank and Maha Agriculture Public Co, a local microfinance institution, yesterday announced the completion of a K3.5 billion ($2.6 million) funding agreement in support of Maha Agriculture’s lending activities in Myanmar. The agreement will enable Maha Agriculture to reach an additional 6,000 farming families, a sector which has so far been underserved by formal financial institutions. The company will deploy the funds to help farmers buy fertilisers, seeds and other agricultural inputs. It will also lend to smaller microfinance enterprises in support of their business activities. Maha Agriculture currently services 10,000 farming families across Myanmar, with an aggregate loan book of K7 billion. “The agriculture sector is the backbone of Myanmar’s economy and employs 70 percent of the country’s labor force. [Yet], many farmers have little to no access to credible lenders. This drives them to borrowing from informal moneylenders with high interest rates, diminishing any profits,” said Matteo Marinelli, CEO of Maha Agriculture. He added that Maha Agriculture “aims to provide more small, unsecured loans to farmers, vendors and micro enterprises.”
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  Despite the difficulties and the government’s insufficient attention to deal with economic issues, some meaningful progress has been made on the economic front: the new Investment Law, new Companies Law, rules to the Condominium Law, and improvements in Yangon's transportation

  The last fiscal year was a tough one for the economy owing to the Rakhine crisis and the government’s insufficient attention to deal with economic issues. But despite the difficulties, some meaningful progress has been made on the economic front, with the new Investment Law coming into force, new Companies Law signed into approval and rules to the Condominium Law finally released. On a municipal level, businesses were impressed by the reforms in Yangon’s transport, notably the introduction of Uber and Grab, as well as the Yangon Bus Service (YBS), though the latter has its fair share of controversies. In fact, economic growth and a surge in foreign direct investments (FDI) compared to the previous year were supported by the initial phase of economic liberalisation, with investors attracted by Myanmar’s status as one of Asia’s last frontier markets, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But the Fund warned that a second wave of reforms, especially in the banking system and further opening up the economy to joint foreign ventures, is necessary to maintain the momentum.
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  Ministry of Hotels and Tourism plans to promote tourism by developing new modes of tourism and new tourist destinations to attract tourists: eco-tourism, cultural tourism, and community-based tourism in resource-rich areas

  Myanmar's Hotels and Tourism Ministry is striving to promote tourism by developing new modes of tourism and creating new tourist destinations. The ministry has permitted about 1,628 hotels and guest houses with some 65,470 rooms to operate as of March 31, official Global New Light of Myanmar reported. As of December 2017, the ministry had also granted over 2,676 travel agencies, issuing 4,503 tour guide licenses, 3,449 regional tour guide licenses and 2,564 transport licenses. The ministry is also striving to promote eco-tourism, cultural tourism and community-based tourism in resource-rich areas, including historical landscapes, rivers, lakes, beaches, islands and forests.
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  Together with Myanmar’s HTOO Group, South Korean’s NongHyup Financial Group will start a financial service for farming equipment business in Myanmar, and will seek cooperation in other financial sectors such as banking and insurance

  South Korea’s NongHyup Financial Group Inc. together with Myanmar’s HTOO Group will start a financial service for farming equipment businesses in the Southeast Asian country in the second half with this year, the company said Sunday. Two parties had signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on setting up a financial service business for the distribution of farming equipment in Myanmar January this year. They will launch a joint task force team to work on detailed business planning by mid-April and finalize the contract by the end of June for full-fledged service start in July. The Korean financial group will lead its project in Myanmar through its subsidiary NongHyup Finance Myanmar that it set up in 2016. The group raised the subsidiary’s capital to $8 million late last year from its initial investment of $3 million. It plans to expand NongHyup Finance Myanmar’s business by adding five more outlets to its current nine branches with an aim to increase the number of customers to 50,000 from current 28,000.