Myanmar(Burma)
Country Profile
Myanmar is at a point in its history of tremendous change in economic and social development.
The country, which has been known as Burma since the time of the British colonization, changed
its name a few years ago to the one it is called in its own language: “Myanmar”. Myanmar lies
in a beautiful tropical area, extending for over 676 thousand square km. Demographically, the
country has doubled its population over the last 30 years, reaching currently close to 60
million people. Some 30 million Burmese citizens are below 30 years of age, in need of
opportunities to work and ready for development, new prospects and experiences. In fact,
one of the major challenges ahead is effectively fighting the currently high unemployment rate.
Despite prevailing poverty, the majority of the population is well educated: Over 90 percent of
the population is literate. Burmese is the official language. The Burmese people are sympathetic
to foreigners trying to overcome the language barriers, but the use of English is not as
widespread as it once was in the country. Women have a very good social status in Myanmar,
predominantly due to the prevailing Buddhist religion. Other religions are also practiced in
freedom and the government has recently started a new path towards democracy, freeing political
prisoners and starting peace negotiations with most of the border ethnic groups that have long
tried to get independence from Yangon. The Country is rich in minerals, gems, wood, oil and gas.
Agriculture, Fishing, Forestry and the Services Industry remain the most important activity
sectors, whereas industrial development is limping behind. For many years the country has been
subject to heavy sanctions from the West, due in part to the unjust treatment of the opposition
leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been kept under house arrest for 12 years. However, the
political climate is gradually changing: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was released in 2010 and has most
recently, in April 2012, gained a place in Parliament. The recent facilitation of the visa
procedure is another eye-catching positive development. During the period of “western absence”,
the country`s Asian neighbors (Myanmar is a member of ASEAN) have heavily invested in its
economy: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and most of all China have financed the construction
of infrastructure, housing, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and other tourists facilities,
taking advantage of the absence of European competition as well as Myanmar´s natural beauty and
splendid beach resorts. Still, the country needs much more international support in order to
participate on an equal basis in the world economic globalization process. The Myanmar economy
needs to provide adequate work to its millions of educated youth, while at the same time the
country will need to counter possible negative repercussions from industrialization in an effort
to guarantee sustainable development. Though Myanmar welcomes international support, it will
need to balance foreign influence and dependence. Talking to leading Burmese economists and
entrepreneurs, there are five major objectives to achieve:
- Development of agriculture and forestry as a sustainable basis for gradual industrialization;
- Development of infrastructures for facilitating economic growth;
- Development of sound social policies to deal with prevailing poverty, youthful unemployment and the demographic tilt to the young;
- Promotion of a market-oriented economic system with the support from the international business community through joint ventures and know–how transfer; this also should serve the improvement of the English language base as unfortunately during the last 30 years the fluency the Burmese previously enjoyed in English has declined;
- Acceleration of the flow of international private capital to Myanmar by creating a favourable business climate as essential pre-condition;
- Modernization of the public administration and local industry.
Press Reviews
The Wall Street Journal 4/5/2012: In an exclusive interview, Michael Moe Myint, CEO of one of Myanmar's largest oil and gas companies, talks about the opportunities and risks ahead (extract): “ We do need investments ... I like to see a balanced approach, all companies involved there .... we have to be careful ... there will be all kinds of companies that are coming in, but there will be good companies as well as there will be not so good companies ... so we got to be careful as to whom we choose to do business with”