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Myanmar: Investments unaffected by COVID-19 so far

The outbreak of the Covid-19 virus could slow the pace of foreign direct investments (FDI) into Myanmar in the coming months, according to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA).

U Myo Min, a director at DICA, said although Myanmar has been unaffected so far, the impact of the outbreak on the world economy is likely to hurt the country.

“The spread of the virus has damaged the world economy, particularly China, which is one of Myanmar’s largest trading partners.  As such, we can expect that Chinese FDI will be suspended  for a while. There will be some repercussions to Myanmar ,” said U Maung Maung Lay, vice chair of the Union of Myanmar Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 

‘The spread of the virus has damaged the world economy.’ – U Maung Maung Lay, UMFCCI vice chair 

Yangon Region Investment Committee Secretary U Myo Khine Oo said investments of up to US$5 million in Yangon remain normal and factories are operating as usual. “There has been no damage as a result of the virus so far,” he said,

adding that new and larger projects typically take 6-12 months to get started, so investors are likely to continue with plans to do business in Yangon. So, the damage caused by the pandemic will be manageable.

Since 1988 to the end of November 2019, Myanmar approved 1,876 investments from 50 countries in 12 sectors with total investments valued at about US$83 billion. – Translated

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/investments-unaffected-covid-19-so-far.html