Weekly Business News from Myanmar

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  Foreigners have shown little interest in Myanmar’s condominiums due to their inability to meet the condominium’s criteria and a weak law, according to an analysis by the real estate website House.com.mm

  Foreigners have shown little interest in Myanmar’s condominiums on account of their inability to meet the condominium’s criteria and the weakness of law, according to an analysis by the real estate website House.com.mm. According to the new Condominium Law, foreigners have the right to buy condominiums, but the lack of quality has led foreign expatriates to lose interest, the website found.
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  Five new industrial zones will be selected, according to Aung Naing Oo, secretary of Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC)

  Thilawa Special Economic Zone in southern Yangon (Photo-EMG) Five industrial zones are in the process of being selected, according to Aung Naing Oo, secretary of the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC). “State and regional governments were asked to suggest appropriate areas for industrial zones and have provided lists. We need to further assess them. We’re now in the process of choosing the sites,” he said.
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  The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced a new country partnership strategy for Myanmar, to help the government achieve its target of boosting economic growth and creating jobs

  The Asian Development Bank has announced a new country partnership strategy for Myanmar, which it said will help support the government’s target of boosting economic growth and creating jobs. In a statement published on March 29, ADB said the 2017-2021 strategy is aimed at strengthening access in rural and urban markets, building a skilled workforce and increasing employment opportunities and promoting reforms that will help to modernise the economy.
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  Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Myanmar (SECM) to strengthen corporate governance regulatory standards and practices in Myanmar

  International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Myanmar (SECM) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in March to strengthen corporate governance regulatory standards and practices in Myanmar. In its press statement, the IFC said that a better regulated market will bolster investor confidence and help attract international investment to the country.
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  According to the 2017 Union Budget Law, 722 million Kyat has been allocated for the state-owned electricity corporations in Yangon and Mandalay: 529 million Kyat will go to the Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation (YESC) and Mandalay Electricity Supply C

  According to the 2017 Union Budget Law, K722 million has been allocated for Yangon and Mandalay electricity corporations – K529 million will go to the Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation (YESC) and Mandalay Electricity Supply Corporation (MESC) will receive the rest, K243 million. Both are state-owned organisations under the Ministry of Electricity and Energy. Foreign loans as well as loans from Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are included in the budget set for the YESC. This budget is not within the scope of funds set for the Union government. The administration does not need to pay, since the corresponding corporation will take financial responsibility for it and pay off the loans, U Tun Kywe, CEO of Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation, told the Myanmar Times.
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  The government will soon publicly announce details about restricted and prohibited investments by foreign firms and joint venture projects, as well as those businesses approved by the union ministry and state projects (Directorate of Investment and Compan

  RANGOON – The government will soon publicly announce details about restricted and prohibited investments by foreign firms and joint venture projects, as well as those businesses approved by the Union ministry and state projects, said U Than Aung Kyaw, deputy director general of Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA). Despite the Union Ministry of National Planning and Finance officially releasing the Burmese language version of the country’s investment by-law on the DICA website on April 1—with 25 sections and 238 articles—the business community is asking the government to release information about its preferred investments by both local and foreign companies.
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  The construction and engineering sectors in Myanmar can progress at a much faster rate than its regional neighbors like Vietnam because it has British building standards and codes (CEO of Singapore-based Surbana Jurong)

  The construction and engineering sectors in Myanmar “can progress at a much faster rate” than its regional neighbours like Vietnam because it has British building standards and codes, the head of a major urban development con¬sultancy has said. Wong Heang Fine, group CEO at Singapore-based Surbana Jurong, said a shared legacy of British rule means, “My¬anmar is a very natural market for us as we export our engineering services – much more so than, say, a former French territory.”
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  Yangon based fintech company ThitsaWorks has launched data management solutions for small and medium microfinance institutions (MFIs), as it seeks to take their operations out of notebooks and onto screens

  Yangon based fin¬tech company ThitsaWorks has launched data manage¬ment solutions for small and medium microfi¬nance institutions (MFIs), as it seeks to take their op¬erations out of notebooks and onto screens. The firm hopes that through its cloud and data centre services, mi¬crofinance organisations will become more efficient and the country’s poor will have easier access to capital.
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  The government plans to build new industrial zones and satellite townships across the country (Union Minister for Planning and Finance)

  Satellite township pro¬jects, the government an¬nounced last week. The government has plans to build new in¬dustrial zones and satel¬lite townships across the country, U Kyaw Win, the minister for planning and finance, told an invest¬ment conference. Under the plans, foreign and local investors in old industrial zones will also have equal investment rights in new projects, added U Kyaw Win.
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  Importers of heavy machinery, such as tractors and bulldozers, will soon be allowed to import brand new stock to showrooms throughout the country as part of the government's plan to boost construction

  Importers of heavy ma¬chinery such as trac¬tors and bulldozers will soon be allowed to import brand new stock to showrooms throughout the country as part of a government plan to bol¬ster construction. The Ministry of Com¬merce announced last week that it would begin issuing import licences for the vehicles soon.