In collaboration with the Myanmar Retailers Association (MRA), AYA Bank will provide loans to 50 local retailers under its SME shop Owner loans pilot project

In collaboration with the Myanmar Retailers Association (MRA), AYA Bank will provide loans to 50 local retailers under its SME (small- to medium-sized enterprise) Shop Owner Loans pilot project.

U Thurein Nyein, the President of the Myanmar Retailers Association, said: “The Myanmar Retailers Association will provide loans to about 50 retailers, if they meet the requirements the bank has set.”

The MRA and AYA Bank are now working together, and will provide the loans to approved retailers at the end of the year. The loans will be granted especially to retailers so that they can expand their businesses.

Currently, the bank has not disclosed the amount of the loans that it will provide, since it will grant the loans based upon the size of the retail business that is applying, as well as the retailer’s business plan moving forward after it receives the loan.

The Myanmar Retailers Association has a total of 300,000 members across the country, and it hopes to expand the loan program if the pilot project is successful.

The government began allowing fully foreign-owned retail and wholesale businesses to operate within Myanmar beginning in May 2018; it plans to allow foreign investments of up to 35 percent in local wholesale and retail businesses, as well.

Local retailers believe that allowing foreign wholesale and retail business will intensify the competition among businesses operating within the country.

(Myanmar Business Today: https://www.mmbiztoday.com/articles/aya-bank-provide-loans-50-retailers )

​