ข่าวเศรษฐกิจและธุรกิจประจำสัปดาห์

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  The first major airport, Surbung airport in Falam Township, in Chin State will be opened in September 2020

  Surbung Airport in Falam township, Chin State, the first major airport in the state, will open in September 2020, said U Ye Htut Aung, Deputy Director General of the Department of Civil Aviation. Construction of the K 30 billion airport, which began in 2016-17, had originally been scheduled for completion in 2021-22. Last month though, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint gave instructions for construction to be completed in 2020 and for the airport to begin operating in September. To complete the project within the deadline, more funds will be needed. “We currently have a budget of K5 billion a year. Another K10 billion will be needed to complete the project on time. We need to ask the ministry for the funds,” U Ye Htut Aung said. So far, construction of the airport runways, terminals and facilities has taken place. An additional budget will be required for equipment, flight control systems, runway lights and so on, he said.
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  Canada based miner, Asia Base Metals will submit investment proposals for the grant of exploration permits for lithium on mineral in Myanmar

  AsiaBaseMetals Inc announced its entry into the Myanmar mining sector last week. The Canada-based miner will focus on mining lithium and has already obtained the necessary documents that will enable it to submit investment proposals to the Myanmar Investment Commission. Once submitted and if approved, AsiaBaseMetals will be the first company to venture into the systematic exploration of lithium in Myanmar, according to the company’s statement. AsiaBaseMetals will submit an application for the grant of exploration permits for lithium on mineral claims comprising approximately 74 square kilometres located 14 kilometres from the town of Thazi in Central Myanmar. The company believes the area contains mountainous pegmatite-bearing granites which favour the existence of lithium deposits. Lithium is a chemical compound that is used mainly in medicine as well as in the making of aircraft and certain batteries.
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  Yangon Region Government appeared to be backtracking on a secretive fuel deal to lease 26 sites to private company

  The Yangon Region government appears to be backtracking on a secret deal to lease 26 sites to a private company, Yangon Petrol, following widespread public criticism and pressure from regional lawmakers. FOR NEARLY a year, Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein has been floating the idea of government intervention in the fuel market, arguing that retail prices are higher than they should be. How he might do that remained a mystery until January, when documents were leaked to Facebook that appeared to show that the government planned to lease 26 sites in Yangon to a private company, Yangon Petrol Company Limited, at a price far below market rates. The documents showed five of the 26 sites had already been leased. Of these, two stations have already opened, with two more under construction.
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  Business sectors are called for policy changes to ease and facilitate in doing businesses and operations

  A February 22 meeting between the Private Sector Development Committee led by Vice President U Myint Swe and entrepreneurs from the Union of Myanmar Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) saw the fisheries, steel-making, vehicle manufacturing and distribution and border trade promotion sectors call for policy changes to ease the challenges they face when doing business. U Win Kyaing, secretary of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation (MFF), called for a simpler land use policy which can facilitate fish and prawn breeding but which also includes all other businesses that rely on land to conduct their operations. He also requested to negotiate and settle the issues faced by fish farmers in Ayeyarwady and Mandalay who are still in the stage of land use applications and haven’t obtained the rights but who are being penalised by fines of K 1 million an acre.
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  U Thaung Tun said that Myanmar is opened up to the world and urged investors to participate in Rahine’s journey to prosperity

  U Thaung Tun, Union Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, and Chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission, has invited local and foreign investments to Rakhine State, calling the country’s diversified cultures and customs from different communities its strength, and noted the significant opportunities for the country. The investment fair which is first of its kind in Rakhine State is held with the assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency-JICA, Japan External Trade Organization- JETRO, Myanmar Survey Research Co Ltd-MSR and private companies. Speaking at the Rakhine State Investment Fair, the Union Minister said, “In Myanmar diversity is a source of strength. Myanmar has such great potential precisely because we are such a diverse country — consisting of peoples and communities, with distinct languages, cultures and traditions. “Investment can build upon this diversity — bringing new ideas, new technologies, new ways of doing business — helping communities connect, beyond boundaries, through borders, and across continents,” said the Union Minister.
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  Mongla officials denied Chinese firm permit to set up autonomous digital Economic Zone in Shan State

  YANGON—The general secretary of the rebel-controlled Mongla Special Administrative Region on the Chinese border has denied any knowledge of a Chinese company’s plan to establish an independent political entity within its borders based on an “e-citizenship” system open to all with a digital economy supported by a cryptocurrency. In a program titled “Inside the Crypto Kingdom”, Channel News Asia reported last week that Chinese company Shanghai Shellpay Internet Technology plans to construct the Yongbang Blockchain Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Shan State’s Mongla Special Administrative Region 4. In the video, Shanghai Shellpay Internet Technology CEO Zhang Hong said the SEZ will be an experimental digital economy exercising a high degree of autonomy, and vested with independent executive, legislative and judicial power. The zone would use an “e-citizen” system and a cryptocurrency, the Yongbang coin, Zhang said. But U Kyi Myint, the general secretary of Mongla Special Administrative Region 4, told The Irrawaddy, “It’s impossible. We don’t know what they’re talking about.”
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  Chin State Investment and Products Fair will be held on 16 and 17 March 2019 in Yangon to attract local and foreign investors to accelerate the developments in the state

  Chin State is looking to attract local and foreign investors to accelerate the development of tourism, agriculture, livestock, and electricity generation in the state, U Aung Naing Oo, the secretary of Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC), said Tuesday. As part of efforts to attract potential investors theChin State Investment and Products Fair will be held on March 16 and 17 at the Myanmar Convention Center in Yangon, with the support of the Myanmar Investment Commission, Chin State government, Chin State Chambers of Commerce and Industry, DaNa Facility, and VDB Loi. “The sectors in the state with the most potential for investors are hotels and tourism, agriculture and livestock, and power generation so we will target foreign investors keen on those sectors,” U Aung Naing Oo said.
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  Vice President U Myint Swe urged to work together to increase the number of local experts and import substitutions to bring balance to Myanmar’s trade volume

  “The Private Sector Development Committee promptly carries out matters that can be dealt with immediately. For example, the committee announced during its 23rd regular meeting that the Ministry of Planning and Finance will submit a proposal to amend a provision in the 2019 Union Taxation Law that reads ‘milk, condensed milk, fresh milk and various kinds of milk powder’ into ‘milk and other dairy products’, after the Myanmar Livestock Federation made the request, citing that the absence of the word ‘yogurt’ means commercial tax is levied from this dairy product,” said Vice President U Myint Swe. The Vice President made the remark during his speech at the 24th regular meeting of the Private Sector Development Committee – PSDC, of which he is the Chairperson, held at the UMFCCI (Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry) building in Lanmadaw Township, Yangon yesterday.
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  Ministry of Electricity and Energy announced that it will be called for new round for bids on onshore and offshore oil and gas blocks for this year soon

  The Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE) has announced that it will be calling for bids on onshore and offshore oil and gas blocks for this year. The announcement was made for 18 onshore and 15 offshore blocks in Rakhine State during the Rakhine State Investment Fair 2019 on February 22. MOEE Minister U Win Khine said the government is hoping the conclude the process by the end of next month. U Nyan Tun, deputy managing director of Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, said the bidding this year will be more flexible in terms of conditions placed on production sharing and offer a clearer tender process. U Thaung Tun, the chair of the Myanmar Investment Commission, had said during the Invest Myanmar Summit held in January, that the government is drafting new production-sharing contracts to attract more foreign investors.
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  State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi invited responsible and sustainable local and foreign investors to investment in Rakhine State

  NGAPALI, Rakhine State — State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday invited responsible and sustainable investors from home and abroad to back projects in Rakhine State and help one of Myanmar’s poorest and most troubled regions turn a corner. Speaking in the beach resort town of Ngapali at the state’s first ever investment fair — which is running with the tag line “Rakhine is open for business to the world” — she said she and her government recognized the “grave challenges” they were facing. The state counselor said her government was doing all it could to meet the area’s security and humanitarian needs, in line with the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, which had been led by the late U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. While doing so, she added, “we have to address economic issues in Rakhine, that we may achieve the progress and development needed to sustain stability and prosperity.”