The report states that Myanmar is listed among top improvers in ASEAN because of reforms to the country’s business landscape.

According to the report several initiatives in particular stand out.

The foremost among them is Yangon’s strengthening of construction quality control by imposing stricter qualification requirements for architects and engineers and investments in its water and sanitation infrastructure.

The country also launched an online company registration platform, thereby merging several procedures and reducing the need for in-person interaction.

Myanmar also made property registration faster by streamlining deed registration and appraisal.

On the legal front, Myanmar’s courts started publishing performance measurement reports.

A new company law has also strengthened minority-investor protections by mandating greater disclosure of transactions with interested parties, increasing director liability and requiring greater corporate transparency.

The move up the rankings can be credited to the government’s to form a working group led by the by Ministry of Commerce to address issues in the country’s business environment. The working group focused on improving indicators relied on by the World Bank’s Doing Business Ranking and coordinated with relevant ministries to bring about the required changes.

Vice President U Myint Swe said at a meeting of the Private Sector Development Committee in August this yea,r that being able to sort out matters tied to doing business in Myanmar, such as registering a company, getting electricity and credit, and paying taxes, quickly, affordably, and efficiently, is very important for businesses. As such, the government is working hard to simply such matters, he said.

He also urged that all relevant government ministries and departments try to reform processes and legal requirements to support moving up the Doing Business Ranking.

The World Bank’s Doing Business Report provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and captures several important dimensions of the regulatory environment – starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. The report push that the country to reform making it easier to do business.

The report stated that the top improver list does not reflect the best performing/ranked economies, which will be disclosed at the Doing Business 2020 launch on October 24.

Doing Business 2019 stated that Myanmar was ranked 171 among 190 countries. Myanmar aims to be among the top 100 countries by 2020-21 and among the top 40 by 2035-36.

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/report-lauds-myanmars-improving-business-environment.html