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Myanmar’s energy sector is set to remain on a steady headline growth trajectory in 2018, with rising domestic electricity and fuel consumption, abundant renewable resources, and a strategic geographic location at the crossroads of India and China continuing to offer opportunities to foreign investors. Although the upstream oil and gas segment’s near-term outlook is subdued given current global oil market conditions, internal conflict and an unattractive fiscal regime, downstream opportunities are plentiful, supported by limited domestic refining capacity, rising vehicle ownership, lack of available imports, storage and distribution infrastructure, and ongoing economic liberalisation measures. Private sector participation has been strong in the power industry, and should remain this way as the government continues to deploy PPPs to boost installed capacity. This chapter contains interviews with U Thein Win Zaw, Chairman, Shwe Byain Phyu; Daw Ei Phyusin Htay, Managing Director, Barons & Fujikura EPC; and Ken Tun, CEO, Parami Energy Group.

The expansion of Myanmar’s telecoms market continues to live up to its early promise, with industry reform viewed as the most significant economic success since the military ceded power in 2011. In the relatively short period of time since, the sector has become an important enabler of socio-economic development, attracting billions of dollars in investment, fostering the emergence of tech start-ups and connecting rural communities to the outside world for the first time. Liberalisation has also seen the IT industry expand at a considerable pace. While it still has a lot of catching up to do with regional peers, local businesses and communities are rapidly adopting new technologies, and the potential for expansion into to new economic segments is clear. This chapter contains interviews with Daniel Michener, CEO, Burst Myanmar; and Liman Zhang, CEO, Huawei Myanmar.

Myanmar’s largely unbanked population of over 53m presents vast growth opportunities, and rising demand for the newly emerging financial sector has already led to a sizeable expansion of services and investments. Enthusiasm for the Myanmar market among private domestic and international insurers has been high, as the country promises significant potential returns. With the new Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX) established as recently as October 2015, Myanmar’s capital markets are at a very early stage of development; however, the authorities are embarking upon a series of legislative and regulatory reforms. Notably, this will involve removing some of the main barriers to entry for both domestic and international players. This chapter contains interviews with U Bo Bo Nge, Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Myanmar; Neil Emerson, Senior Vice-President and Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific Region, Diebold Nixdorf; Kamalkant Agarwal, Head of International Banking Business, Siam Commercial Bank; and Daw Sandar Oo, Managing Director, Myanma Insurance; and Chairperson, Myanmar Insurance Association.

Trade and investment has expanded rapidly in Myanmar since 2011, bolstered by economic liberalisation, legal reforms, a large untapped domestic market and a favourable geographic position bordering Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Thailand, which together comprise 40% of the world’s population. However, several factors weigh on 2018’s investment outlook, including ambiguous legislation and red tape, depressed global commodity prices and India’s agriculture import quotas. Concerns over the country’s human rights record could also act as a deterrent to Western financiers, even as Chinese firms move in to fill the funding gap in infrastructure, real estate, transportation and industry. Nonetheless, new opportunities created by China’s Belt and Road Initiative are set to play a significant role in supporting Myanmar’s trade and investment growth over the medium term. This chapter contains interviews with U Than Myint, Minister of Commerce; Jin Liqun, President, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; and Mai Trang Thanh, President, Honeywell Indochina.

Although it has moderated from earlier double-digit highs, GDP growth remained robust in the early 2010s, accelerating from 5.3% in 2010 to 5.6% in 2011, 7.3% in 2012, 8.4% in 2013 and 8% in 2014. Growth has dropped off slightly since 2015, reaching 7% that year and 6.1% in 2016, according to the IMF. External headwinds, internal conflict and delayed implementation of some key reform policies will undoubtedly continue to weigh on macroeconomic growth, but Myanmar’s economic forecast remains broadly positive. While both trade and fiscal deficits present challenges to Myanmar’s public sector stakeholders, increased private sector participation in economic development promises to help the country mitigate declining natural gas revenues, as both ongoing tax reform and fiscal rationalisation preserve financial and economic stability into 2019. This chapter contains interviews with U Kyaw Win, Minister of Planning and Finance; U Phyo Min Thein, Chief Minister, Regional Government of Yangon; and Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.