January 5, 2016

A Yen for Myanmar

Myanmar’s appeal as an investment destination took on a new shine after the peaceful November 8 elections resulted in a landslide victory for the National League for Democracy. Some experts predict that after the new government takes office on April 1, foreign investment will surge as new opportunities are sought in one of the world’s last frontier markets. Japan Inc. is well prepared to lead the investment invasion.

In 2013, Myanmar Investment Commission secretary U Aung Naing Oo told a panel discussion at the first World Economic Forum held in the country that Japanese businessmen were coming “like tsunami waves”. The first wave of Japanese businessmen hit in 2012–2013, when they flooded into Myanmar seeking investment opportunities. That wave came and retreated without leaving much in its wake.

MIC figures to the end of October show it has approved 79 Japanese projects worth US$574.7 million, only 0.99 percent of the $58.034 billion invested since late 1988.

An MIC list ranks Japan 11th among the 41 countries or territories investing in Myanmar, after China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Britain, South Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, India and Vietnam, in that order. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)

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