# Myanmar Government Approved USD 3.82 Billion in Foreign Investment and USD 651 Million in Domestic Investment in First Year of State Administration Council

- Link: https://www.thailand-business-news.com/thailand-prnews/myanmar-government-approved-usd-3-82-billion-in-foreign-investment-and-usd-651-million-in-domestic-investment-in-first-year-of-state-administration-council
- Published: 2022-03-02T17:16:05+07:00
- Author: SiamNews PR

NAY PYI TAW, MM, Jan 27, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – The Myanmar Government said today
it has approved USD 3.82 billion equivalent* in foreign investments and USD 651 
million equivalent in domestic investments in the first year since the State Administration
Council (SAC) took office.

The investment commitments underscore confidence in the country’s economic potential
amid a return to national stability and efforts to increase vaccination rates to
contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Information (MOI) and the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic
Relations (MIFER) released the latest investment figures for the country for the
period between 1 February 2021 – when a Proclamation was issued – and 20 January
2022.

The SAC was formed on 2 February 2021, a day after the Proclamation was issued after
the failure to settle the issue of voter list fraud and malpractices in the 8 November
2020 elections, and to postpone parliament sessions. A state of emergency was declared
in accordance with Article 417 of the 2008 Constitution of Myanmar.

Despite destruction of public property, attacks on Government personnel and attempts
to sabotage the domestic economy by the so-called People’s Defense Force – with 
clear support from foreign elements – the SAC had largely restored national stability
by the second half of 2021.

Myanmar faced a second crisis, a health pandemic that arose from the outbreak that
was first detected in the country in March 2020. However, due to intense efforts
to contain COVID-19, schools, universities have reopened, and most commercial activities
have resumed in recent months with the vaccination of at least 60% the country’s
population (above 18 years) to date.

The MOI and MIFER said among the 50 domestic (citizens’) investments approved in
the past year, seven were for projects in the services sector with investment value
of USD 427.34 million equivalent and 29 were for manufacturing projects with investment
value of USD 74.58 million equivalent. The mining, power and construction sectors
also attracted sizeable citizens’ investments during this period.

Foreign investments approved in the past year included a USD 2.5 billion project
to construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant, the two Ministers said.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC), apart from being the largest trading partner
of Myanmar, is the largest foreign investor in the country. Among the non-PRC foreign
investments approved in the past year were one from Japan (USD 516.43 million), 
four from Singapore (totaling USD 442.20 million), two from Thailand (totaling USD
75.50 million) five from South Korea (totaling USD 66.17 million) and seven from
Hong Kong (totaling USD 60.09 million).

The Government estimates that the foreign investments over the past year led to 
the creation of 25,383 new jobs while domestic investments added a further 11,879
new jobs, or a total of 37,262 jobs.

Myanmar Government is accelerating efforts to improve trade flows with and investments
from countries such as Russia that, until recently, have not been among its leading
economic partners. Prior to the pandemic, which curtailed business travel and activities,
Myanmar-Russia bilateral trade had increased 30% in FY2019-2020 (November to October)
compared to the year earlier.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic Myanmar and Russia are actively formulating
a Bilateral Strategy for Development of Economic Cooperation. The latter has already
led to a first virtual business matching session attended by dozens of business 
leaders from both countries last September. A second such virtual session will be
held on 31 January 2022.

The two countries, which signed an Inter-Governmental Joint Commission for Trade
and Economic Cooperation in August 2014, plan to hold its third Joint Commission
meeting, physically, in Nay Pyi Taw in the near future.
Russian corporations have
invested USD 94 million in Myanmar, mostly in the oil and gas sector, and the country
currently ranks 22nd out of 52 foreign investors. Myanmar Government will support
the extension of Russian investment interest to sectors such as mineral processing,
solar energy, railway and ICT, aviation, automobiles and tourism.

“Economic recovery is a major priority as the country recovers from two crises and
prepares for multi-party elections to be held by August 2023,” said MOI Minister
Mr. Maung Maung Ohn and MIFER Minister Mr. Aung Naing Oo in their joint statement.

“Due to good weather, Government financial support such as concessionary loans, 
and the relatively low impact of the pandemic compared to other sectors, the agriculture,
fisheries and livestock sectors are reporting healthy growth. As workers return 
to workplaces in the past few months, the influx of new domestic and foreign investments
will also contribute to job creation,” they said.

These factors along with national stability and improved vaccination rates will 
help Myanmar register a modest economic recovery in 2021-2022 after a single-digit
contraction of its Gross Domestic Product in 2020-2021 – which is less dire than
forecasts of some international economists.

“While certain quarters of the international community publicly discourage economic
cooperation with Myanmar, the country continues to record substantial trading volume
as well as domestic and foreign investments. Many of our foreign partners choose
to work quietly with us, fully recognizing Myanmar’s economic potential as well 
as its unique challenges,” the two Ministers said.

“We have shared with foreign partners our efforts to deal with economic sabotage
in the form of attempts to boycott Government revenue, shake confidence in financial
institutions and destabilise the kyat. Despite these challenges, our Ministries 
and Government departments have been working diligently away from public glare to
increase trade and investment flows,” they added. “These efforts have clearly borne
fruit and we seek to increase such activities domestically and with foreign partners.”

* All equivalents based on exchange rate of approximately USD1.0 to 1,771 kyat as
at 26 January 2022.

_Topic: Press release summary__
Source: [Ministry of Information, Union Government of Myanmar](http://www.moi.gov.mm/moi:eng/)


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