The Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) expects foreign direct investment (FDI) to exceed 6 billion USD this fiscal year: FDI reached 6.649 billion USD last fiscal year

The body responsi­ble for handing out investment licenses to international compa­nies says it expects for­eign inflows to exceed $6 billion this fiscal year.

The Myanmar Invest­ment Commission’s (MIC) new target, which applies to the period from April 1st this year until the end of March 2018, is modest compared to the more than $9 billion ap­proved in 2015/16.

But FDI fell significantly in the last fiscal year to $6.6 billion, partly be­cause the MIC took sev­eral weeks to reform after the National League for Democracy took power last April.

Last month the commis­sion announced it had al­ready approved $200 mil­lion worth of foreign and local investment for this year so far.

A new investment law that came into effect last month is expected to en­courage more inflows by offering the business community clarity. The legislation identifies sev­eral promoted sectors – where investors are of­fered incentives including tax exemptions – includ­ing manufacturing, infra­structure and agriculture.

The commission says it will consider investments in promoted sectors on their cost-effectiveness, the number of jobs they will create as well as the potential for technologi­cal transfer the invest­ment’s wider social im­pact.

U Aung Naing Oo, MIC’s General Secretary said that agriculture in par­ticular has the potential to attract foreign direct investment this fiscal year “because we have created better incentives and an investment landscape to lure FDI.”

Last fiscal year FDI reached $6.649 billion thanks to 138 invest­ments. Singapore, Viet­nam, China, Hong Kong, and Thailand were the country’s biggest inves­tors.

(Myanmar Business Today: http://www.mmbiztoday.com/articles/agriculture-will-help-fdi-top-6bn-year-says-investment-body)

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