Myanmar' s Suu Kyi projects ' pro-economy image' before election

 

The Myanmar Investment Commission approved $5.5 billion in foreign investment from the fiscal year ended September 2020, an increase of 33% compared with the same period in the previous year. The figure includes Japanese retailer  Aeon' s project  to build a new shopping mall and plans to build natural gas-fired power plants developed by Hong Kong-based VPower group.

Both local and foreign businesses have criticized the government' s ability to run the economy as it rolled out a series of controversial policies and bad decisions over the past few months.

The most recent example is the commerce ministry' s decision, during the election campaign season, to award special permits to import cars for senior public servants -- a proposal that was suspended amid an industry backlash.

Antoine Jeanson, who heads the European Chamber of Commerce Myanmar automotive group, said in a news conference on Oct. 9 that an estimated 11,000 permits would be issued, in a nation where annual sales of new cars are only about 30,000. " This situation (lacking transparency) is extremely detrimental for businesses in a time when they should be supported," he said.

The energy ministry also pushed through a controversial  solar plant tender  with an extremely short bidding window, effectively excluding many companies, despite protests by foreign governments and business associations. The tenders were issued in May, with most of the projects swept up by bidders involving Chinese companies.

Shortly before the election campaign period began, the government  announced a plan  in July to set up a new special economic zone (SEZ) with a deep seaport in Mon state, on the strategic transportation route connecting Yangon and Bangkok.

" The government is showing it is serious about Myanmar' s manufacturing ambitions and desire to attract foreign direct investment with this announcement," said Tomoaki Yabe, a Japanese who runs a logistics company headquartered in Yangon.

" If established, the new SEZ would be well placed to entice export businesses, taking advantage of its competitive labor cost," Yabe said. " But the government needs to speed up things."