ข่าวเศรษฐกิจและธุรกิจประจำสัปดาห์

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  Ministry of Hotels and Tourism organized the coordination meeting to promote the Japanese tourists market in Myanmar

  The Ministry of Hotel and Tourism organized a coordination meeting to promote the Japan market for tourism as Yangon’s Sule Shangri-La Hotel yesterday. Union Minister U Ohn Maung discussed how they have prepared digital marketing groups for the travel destinations of different countries. He said they have translated CDs and DVDs of Myanmar’s travel destinations into Japanese and distributed them extensively in Japan. He said they have held JATA Tourism Expo and roadshows to attract more Japanese tourists and collaborated with ABC TV to document prominent travel routes in Myanmar. To further promote tourism in the nation, various tourism ambassadors have been assigned, including cherry tree expert Mr Kanta Kori in 2017, fashion designer Mrs Junko Koshino in April 2018, and Japanese singer Morisaki Win in August 2018, said the Union Minister. He said they will hold the annual Japan-Myanmar cherry tree planting ceremony, now in its fourth year, in Loikaw, Nay Pyi Taw and Chin State. He said they reduced visa restrictions in October 2018 to make traveling into Myanmar easier for people from Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macao and India.
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  Myanmar expected to attract more investments due to the U.S. tariffs on China

  Myanmar expects to attract more investment as manufacturers seeking to relocate production from China to skirt U.S. tariffs encounter capacity constraints in Vietnam, Bloomberg reported. Myanmar’s goal is to woo a total of $5.8 billion in foreign-direct investment this year and is trying to cut back the red tape that deters some companies, according to a senior government official.
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  UK-aid funded Dana facility and Myanmar Economic Association jointly organized a workshop on Agricultural Value Chain Finance: policy, practice and inclusion in Yangon

  Organized by UK-aid funded DaNa facility and Myanmar Economic Association, a workshop on Agricultural Value Chain Finance: policy, practice and inclusion was held in Yangon, Friday. The workshop brought together stakeholders from the Government, the private sector, NGOs, donor organizations, and research institutes to review the current status of policy and practice, promising reforms and developments, to discuss opportunities and to expand access to agricultural finance in the coming years. The Australian Center for International Agricultural Research has been supporting collaborative research for development of agriculture sector in Myanmar for about thirty years. Ambassador, Australian Embassy (Myanmar), H.E. Andrea Faulkner said “From an Australian perspective, we really see the importance of agriculture in Myanmar as the economy in Myanmar society and we are very pleased to support and important discussions which is about increasing access to finance for farmers. All stakeholders, all of the groups that are interested, can contribute to finding solutions. This is the really important element, … make a contribution opening up access to finance who really allow farmers to increase their inputs and to stimulate invention and to produce growth...”
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  The volume of rubber export reached USD $ 6 million within one month of this fiscal year which decreased more than USD $ 4 million when compared to the same period of last fiscal year

  Rubber export volume reached US$ 6 million within one month in the current financial year, decreasing by more than US$ 4 million compared to the same period of last year, said Khin Maung Lwin, Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce. From October 1 to 25 in 2019-2020 fiscal years, rubber export volume reached US$ 6.32 million. “Rubber export volume is worth of more than US$ 6 million. In comparison with the same period, the current rubber volume decreased by US$ 4 million,” said Khin Maung Lwin. Mon and Kayin States mostly grow rubber in southern Myanmar. Rubber is also grown in Yangon, Bago and Taninthayi Regions.
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  The drilling on eight commercial-scale development wells at the Shwe natural gas project will be started early of 2020

  Eight commercial-scale development wells at the Shwe natural gas project will be drilled in January 2020, the field’s operator, South Korean conglomerate Posco International Corp revealed. The overall Shwe natural gas project includes the A-1 and A-3 blocks. The A-block contains Shwe and Shwe Phyu fields and A-3 contains the Mya field. The four development wells will be dug first at the Shwe and Shwe Phyu fields in block A-1and the work is expected to take eight months. Once the wells are completed, a pipeline will connect to the platforms and commercial gas production is expected to begin end-2021 or early 2022, said Posco International Myanmar Production Engineer U Win Nyunt Aung. The sites of the eight wells have already been explored and preliminary yield calculations for the sites have been completed.
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  Myanmar Government will be added two more sectors in ranking “Ease of Doing Business” index next year

  Team leader of Progress of Ease of Doing Business Ranking and Deputy Minister of Economics and Commerce Aung Htoo said that they would add two more sectors in ranking ‘Ease of Doing Business’ next year. The two more sectors are government tender bidding process and labour rights. Currently, the index is based on sub-indices of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. But in the coming year, government’s tender and the bidding sector will be considered accurately.
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  Chinese Government is trying to rebrand delayed projects in Myanmar under the banner of its Belt and Road Initiative

  YANGON—China is rebranding and repackaging dormant or delayed projects in Myanmar under the banner of its Belt and Road Initiative, many of whose projects lack transparency and consultation with affected communities, according to the latest policy brief by a Netherlands-based research and advocacy institute. Stephanie Olinga-Shannon, a planning and evaluation coordinator for the Transitional Institute (TNI) who also researches Chinese foreign policy for the organization, said, “Rather than a ‘grand strategy’, the BRI is a broad and loosely governed framework of activities seeking to address a crisis in Chinese capitalism.” “Almost any activities, implemented by any actor in any place can be included under the BRI framework and branded as a BRI project in Myanmar,” Olinga-Shannon said. The BRI allows Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and provincial governments to promote their own projects to pursue profit and economic growth, she added.
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  The Myanmar Times News's data comparison on Myanmar’s economy among other tiger cub economies

  Back in the 1960s, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong were able use cheap labour and tax incentives to draw a huge influx of foreign direct investments and technological know-how from the west. Between the early 60s and 90s, growth quickly soared, to an average of 10 percent at the peak, according to the World Bank, propelling those economies, now dubbed by some economists as the four Asian Tigers, from developing to developed, high-income nations by the early 21st century. Then came the so-called Tiger Cubs, comprising the emerging Asean economies of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, which benefited from trade and investment with the four Tigers since the 1980s. Driven by e-commerce and digital technologies, Indonesia is among the fastest growing economies in the region, with total GDP of more than US$1 trillion. This is followed by the Thai and Malaysian economies, with total GDP exceeding US$500 million and US$350 million, respectively.
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  UMFCCI and Yunnan Provincial General Chambers of Commerce (YPGCC) hold the 8th meeting on economy and trade cooperation forum in Yangon

  The Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) and Yunnan Provincial General Chambers of Commerce (YPGCC) jointly held 8th meeting held and an Economy and Trade Cooperation Forum during the 8th meeting of two organizations at the former’s office in Yangon on 6 November. UMFCCI Vice President U Ye Min Aung said trade cooperation was going on for more than ten years after UMFCCI and YPGCC signed a MoU. Bilateral economy and trade developed with much effect on bilateral economy, trade and investments so it was a very beneficial meeting, he added. YPGCC Vice Chair Mr Wang Wei said the forum was expected to become a platform for discussing policy matters for developing businesses between the two countries, exchange economic information and for economic cooperation. This was the 8th meeting where papers on border trade and transport sector, food and agriculture sector, transformation to digital economy and innovation in news and information technologies were read while discussions were held under a question and answer session. Later in the afternoon
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  Daw Aung San Su Kyi’s Government announced the first round of foreign bank licencing

  Myanmar will initiate the first round of foreign bank licencing under Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, aimed at further opening up an industry that was formerly closed off to international players. The central bank announced that banks can apply for either a branch licence - which allows a range of wholesale banking activities - or a subsidiary licence, which permits both wholesale and, from January 2021 onwards, onshore retail banking services. A branch licence and subsidiary licence require a minimum paid-in capital of US$75 million and $100 million respectively. The statement did not specify the timeline for the latest round of licencing, but the central bank will be sharing requests for Expression of Interest (EOI) with eligible banks in the coming months.