PHNOM PENH: (Bernama) Singapore emerged as the leading foreign investor in Myanmar in the first seven months this year. Other Asean nations, including Indonesia and Thailand, also maintained investments in Myanmar's turmoil-hit market.
"Singapore is the leading foreign investor in Myanmar, with about RM377 million (US$87.74 million) of FDI in the past seven months of the current financial year, followed by Thailand and China," said the state-owned media.
The Global New Light of Myanmar said the Southeast Asian nation attracted RM184.9 million (US$43 million) from China since April, where Chinese investments were channelled largely into the manufacturing sector.
Since the military coup in February 2021 Myanmar’s economy has gone into a tailspin due to multiple reasons. Foreign investors shied away as they lost confidence in the market, and instability within the country due to civil war among the government forces and ethnic insurgent groups affected production.
More than a million people in Myanmar have been displaced since the onset of the ongoing turmoil, leaving them in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
The World Bank’s Myanmar Economic Monitor in June this year projected the country’s gross domestic product to rise by one per cent until March 2025.
The report said that inflation and unemployment were still nagging issues while poverty numbers continued to rise. Shortages of imported inputs, labour market instability and electricity shortages further exacerbated the challenges facing the economy.
"Displacement, job losses, and income losses have wiped out much of the previous progress in poverty reduction.
"The economic outlook remains very weak, with little respite for Myanmar’s households over the near to medium term,” World Bank Country Director for Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos Mariam Sherman said in response to the June report.
The Myanmar Investment Commission endorsed 33 foreign projects from seven countries - China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand - to invest over RM946 million (US$220 million) in the past seven months.
Investors mostly channelled their money into transport, communication, agriculture, power, livestock and fisheries sectors. - Bernama
