TAG: Financial Services
The fall in oil and gas prices has been longer and more pronounced than what nearly all experts anticipated when the decline started in mid-2014. This has had significant impacts on all hydrocarbons-rich countries around the world, and Trinidad and Tobago is no exception. Having over a century of experience in producing oil, however, T&T has ridden out and recovered from the ups and downs of this industry, coming out stronger each time.
The launch of the Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX) was one of the most anticipated events among frontier market investors in 2015, and according to an Oxford Business Group survey of C-suite executives in the country, many companies are now mulling the possibility of an IPO. However, of the 26% with firmer plans to list, close to half are looking at a five-year horizon. As such, nearer-term expansion is likely to be financed through a mix of internal funding and bank credit. With companies nonetheless preparing for growth, substantial hiring is under way, along with accompanying wage hikes to attract and retain top staff.
Access to financing and the availability of human resources are key determinants of the long-term development path of newly emerging economies, and Myanmar is indeed facing formidable challenges in both of these areas.