Economy

During the last three-quarters of a century Myanmar has undergone three major transitions: from colonial rule to independence in 1948, from parliamentary democracy to military dictatorship in 1962, and – in progress since 1988 – the transition from dictatorship to democracy. The first transition was the culmination of a hard and costly...

Decades of growth in trade and foreign investment have made economies around the world more interconnected and interdependent than ever before. The production of goods and, increasingly, the provision of services have become fractured across borders as corporations create and integrate into regional and global value chains. These trends have...

Considered to be the last frontier market in Southeast Asia, Myanmar remains focused on creating the right set of conditions to attract and facilitate foreign investment to spur economic development. Following decades of military rule that maintained a socialist and centrally planned economic model, cutting off access to the world’s financial...

Offering a range of attractive investor incentives, Myanmar’s special economic zones (SEZs) hold significant potential to attract new foreign direct investment (FDI), support industrialisation and manufacturing activities, and boost employment and export receipts. The country’s sole operational facility, the Thilawa SEZ, has already become a...

While 2018 is unlikely to earn the description of a time of significant global trade cooperation, the year did end on a note of cautious optimism for advocates of open trade, when, at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, the US declared a 90-day truce in its 10-month-long trade war with China. It is hoped that this ceasefire will stand, leading to...