ข่าวเศรษฐกิจและธุรกิจประจำสัปดาห์

• 

  Ministry of Commerce (MOC) will support banks in the provision of loans for planting Myanmar corn due to high demands

  The Ministry of Commerce will support banks in the provision of loans for planting Myanmar corn, demand for which is expected to rise in the coming years. The agreement was made between the ministry and the newly formed Myanmar Corn Industrial Association on June 26. “As we expect demand to be very high, the Ministry of Commerce accepted our request for it to provide government loans or connect us to the banks so that we can obtain the funding we need to expand the plantations,” said U Min Khang chair of the association. There are about 1.9 million acres of corn plantations across the Ayeyarwady Region, Nay Pyi Taw, Shan State, Kayah State and Kayin State, yielding more than 3 million tonnes a year, according to last year’s data. Domestic consumption is less than half of what is produced, with the other half of the crop exported mainly to Thailand. Myanmar is currently also the second largest exporter of corn in Asean.
• 

  The viable China Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) projects to be included in Myanmar Project Bank

  Depending on their commercial viability, projects from the China Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) will be selected and included in Myanmar Project Bank, Deputy Minister of Planning, Finance and Industry U Set Aung said on June 24. The two governments have signed a co-operation plan for the CMEC, under which Myanmar has the authority to choose the projects it wants to execute. “We will choose the projects only after feasibility studies have been done and if they are commercially viability and have strategic significance to Myanmar,” he said. The Myanmar Project Bank is an open web-based platform designed to highlight investment projects which will further the implementation of the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan 2018-2030. This establishes a predictable and transparent system linking major investment projects with appropriate sources of finance.
• 

  Yangon Region Investment Committee has approved USD $ 9.17 million worth 3 foreign projects and K 2.29 billion valued 1 domestic proposal

  The Yangon Region Investment Committee, at a videoconference held on 24 June, has approved three foreign projects from China, with an estimated capital of US$9.17 million and one domestic project worth K2.29 billion. The projects will create over 3,000 jobs. They will invest in the production of spice; belt and bags; and manufacturing of bra cup underwear mould for local CMP enterprises, according to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA). The manufacturing sector has attracted the most foreign investments in Yangon Region, with enterprises engaging in the production of pharmaceuticals, vehicles, container boxes, and garments on a Cutting, Making, and Packing (CMP) basis. The investments in the regions also flowing into the hotel services, and other services sectors as well. To date, foreign investments from China, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Viet Nam, India, China (Taipei), Malaysia, the British Virgin Islands and Seychelles are arriving in the region.
• 

  World Bank warns of severe blow to Myanmar’s economy due to COVID – 19

  The global COVID-19 pandemic is dealing a severe blow to Myanmar’s economy. Economic growth in a baseline scenario is projected to drop from 6.8 percent in FY18/19 to just 0.5 percent in FY2019/20, according to the World Bank’s Myanmar Economic Monitor, released yesterday. If the pandemic is protracted, the economy could contract by as much as 2.5 percent in FY2019/20, with the expected recovery in 2020/21 subject to further downside risks. The slowing economic growth threatens to partially reverse Myanmar’s recent progress in poverty reduction while reducing the incomes of households that are already poor. Under the baseline scenario, in which the domestic spread of the coronavirus is brought under control, the global economy swiftly recovers, and Myanmar’s GDP growth rate is projected to bounce back to 7.2 percent in FY2020/21, poverty rates would increase in the short term and will not return to pre-crisis levels until FY2021/22. Under the downside scenario, poverty rates would remain above their pre-crisis level until at least FY2022/23.
• 

  Myanmar government will consider loan support and easing regulations for retail sector in Myanmar

  Myanmar will consider granting loans to retail businesses hard hit by falling demand due to COVID-19, said State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. “We will re-consider the avenues available to provide assistance to retail businesses,” she said during a video conference on June 23. In March, the government set up an emergency soft-loan of K100 billion with an interest rate of 1 percent for a term of one year for small businesses in tourism and garment manufacturing affected by the global pandemic. Under its COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP) launched in April, the government raised the loan amount to K200 billion- K500 billion, to be disbursed before the end of the year. But the conditions set by the government for most retailers to qualify for and repay the loans are too onerous, business owners said.
• 

  Myanmar is seeing its transit trade improves, USD $ 4 billion earned from Kyaukphyu – Kunming gas pipeline

  Myanmar is seeing its transit trade improve, and nearly US$4 billion has been earned from the Kyaukphyu-Kunming gas pipeline alone, said Deputy Minister for Commerce Aung Htoo. He made the remark during a news conference on the ministry’s activities in the fourth year of the government’s term held in Nay Pyi Taw on June 24. “Depending on our geographical conditions, we need to engage in transit trade. We have seen our transit trade improve greatly. When it comes to the Kyaukphyu-Kunming gas pipeline, we have earned US$3.9 billion,” the deputy minister said. In the Myanmar-China oil and gas pipeline project, the pipeline connection starts from Yanbye Island in Kyaukphyu Township, Rakhine State. The crude oil pipeline connection starts from Made Island.
• 

  Myanmar’s trade deficit up in eight and half months of the current fiscal year

  Myanmar’s trade gap has significantly widened in eight and half months of the current financial year 2019-2020 to more than US$1.7 billion from $853 million registered in the corresponding period of the 2018-2019FY, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Commerce. Between 1 October and 12 June in the current fiscal, Myanmar’s external trade increased to over $26.4 billion from $24.57 billion recorded in the year-ago period.
• 

  The domestic investments touch K 1,370 billion and USD $ 284.769 million in the current fiscal year

  Domestic investments by Myanmar citizens, including an expansion of capital by existing enterprises, have reached K1,370 billion and US$284.769 million as of 18 June of 2019-2020 financial year since October, according to a press statement issued by the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC). Between 1 October and 18 June in the current fiscal, Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) and the respective region and state investment committees gave green lights to 87 local enterprises to invest in various sectors, with estimated capitals of over K1,101 billion and $189 million. Domestic investments have flowed into the real estate, manufacturing, hotels and tourism, construction, industrial estate, energy, mining, livestock and fisheries, agriculture, and other services sectors, according to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA).
• 

  Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE) is committed to new refinery projects with private sectors under Public Private Partnership

  The Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE) is making plans to build new oil refineries in Myanmar to meet domestic oil demand and boost energy security in the country, said U Tin Maung Oo, Permanent Secretary of the MOEE. The new refinery projects will be implemented with the private sector under Public Private Partnership schemes, he said. The MOEE expects to build one new refinery capable of processing up to 5 million tonnes of crude oil near the government's Petrochemical Complex (Thanbayarkan) in Magway Region. There are currently just two oil refineries in Myanmar : No.1 Refinery (Thanlyin) in Yangon Region which was constructed in 1955 and No.2 Refinery (Chauk) in Magway Region which was constructed in 1954. The No.1 Refinery (Thanlyin) is now shut down as officials attempt to gauge its commercial viability.
• 

  Myanmar retail sales slashed by 80 percent in this fiscal year when compared to the same period of previous year due to the COVID – 19 outbreak

  Myanmar allowed its citizens to go out and buy essential commodities during the period considered the peak of the local transmission. However, people tried to avoid going out and spent less, resulting in an 80 percent retail sales drop compared to last year, according to Daw Win Win Tint, Managing Director of City Mart Holdings. Demands gradually dropped below normal trend in the previous year, and May and June, for example, saw a 20 percent decline compared to the same period last year. There are over 300,000 retail shops and mostly are conventional ones, without any proper bookkeeping, which hold almost 90 percent of the market share.