Weekly Business News from Myanmar

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  Kan Pike Tee border trading station in Kachin State will be closed indefinitely to the import of vehicles and machines: The Ministry of Commerce

  A high volume of vehicles and machines are imported for use in the jade mining areas in Hpakanttownship, and are checked for their legality at Kan Pike Tee border trading station, which was closed on the evening of December 17.
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  Japan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to fund a USD 3 million project that aims to boost incomes and opportunities for small businesses in four townships in Mon State

  “Many young Mon people are going to Thailand to look for jobs as we have a lack of job vacancies here. If this aid can assist local businesses, it will be good for our state,” he said. “Some small businesses can’t continue long as they need micro finance. They can’t take loans from banks so, if this aid can help them, they will be able to continue their work.”
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  Myanmar's Union Minister for Finance introduces the 2016 tax law into PyidaungsuHluttaw which is expected to generate Kyat 6,218.329 billion in revenue, including Kyat 80 billion from mobile phone top-ups

  More than K6 trillion (US$4.57 billion) will be raised next year in taxes, announced finance minister U Win Shein on December 15. The Union minister was introducing the 2016 tax law into PyidaungsuHluttaw.
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  Traders smuggling rice and paddy out of the country to China will be identified and punished: Myanmar's Minister for Commerce

  “News is spreading that paddy is being smuggled across the border. The great number of vehicles passing through Muse makes it difficult to check them all, but people taking advantage of this to take paddy out of the country will be found and prosecuted,” U Win Myint said.
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  International Finance Corporation (IFC) makes a USD 1.2 million equity investment in micro-finance provider Fullerton Finance (Myanmar) Co., Ltd to help finance smaller businesses and individual borrowers

  Established in 2014, Fullerton Myanmar serves micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) through branches located in Yangon, Ayeyarwaddy and Mandalay regions. The company, headquartered in Yangon’s Thaketatownship, runs a dual urban and rural microfinance program and aims to grow its customer base 20-fold from 10,000 to 200,000 by 2021.
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  Over-the-counter share prices rise ahead of Myanmar's new stock exchange launch

  The price of shares in FMI had climbed to K18,500 in early December, from K10,000 this time last year, according to the company’s website, while a broker who sells FMI shares said the market price is between K20,000 and K22,000. Shareholders have been unwilling to sell for the past few months, as the opening date for the new exchange nears, he said. “This may be because customers are trading directly, or keeping their shares until the company is re-valued,” he said. In January 2014, FMI issued 2.5 million additional shares to the public, at K10,000 each.
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  Singpore-based Sembcorp Industries signs an agreement with Myanmar's Ministry of Electric Power to build the country's largest gas-fired power plant project at Myingyan in Mandalay Region

  “Sembcrop is pleased to be embarking on this project, which is our first investment in Myanmar. It gives us a foothold to potentially develop other businesses in the country such as water and urban development,” said executive vice president Tan Cheng Guan, in a statement. The project is expected to be completed in 2018 and will supply power to Myanma Electric Power Enterprise under a 22-year power purchase agreement, guaranteed by the Ministry of Electric Power. Neither Sembcorp nor the ministry has disclosed the terms of the agreement.
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  The Yangon Public Company sells share quickly: Kyat 760 million worth shares have been sold so far

  Share sales started on November 3 and will go on until January 31, 2016. “We sold K760 million worth of our shares so far. People ask me when they will get profit from it. It is a long-term investment, but I am sure that every share owner will gain profit from this business,” Dr Maung Aung, chair of the Yangon Public Bus Company, told Myanmar Business Today.
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  Political transition heralds higher quality products in Myanmar

  Political change could be leading to lifestyle change, business sources say. They point to a new willingness to import higher-quality brands, on the grounds that the Myanmar people have voted to change the old ways for something different – something better.
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  List of 10 Yangon Stock Exchange underwriters revealed

  Ten securities companies, named below, intend to operate as underwriters for the new Yangon Stock Exchange which is due to open on December 9, The Myanmar Times has learned.