Myanmar is expected to draw foreign direct investments (FDI) totaling $5.8 billion in coming 2018-2019 fiscal year, said Than Aung Kyaw, deputy director general of the Directorate o f I n v e s t m e n t a n d C o m p a n y Administration (DICA).
That is unchanged from the previous 2017-2018 year ended in March 31, during which Myanmar received $5.7 billion in FDI for 222 projects. The country received $6.6 billion for 135 investments in 2016-2017 year. By comparing these two years, FDI decreased significantly due to the economic downturn and humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State. Than Aung Kyaw said, “Investments from Asian countries including Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Thailand have not hesitated. In addition, with the New Companies Law, we expect to see increasing FDI in sectors that are opening up, such as education and retail”.
The FDI forecasts for 2018-2019 fiscal year were made after excluding investments from the West. Aung Naing Oo, the secretary of Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC), said, ” Myanmar is not expecting high volumes of FDI from the West over the next 2-3 years as a result of the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine.” Nevertheless, the UMFCCI will continue raising efforts to draw more FDI into Myanmar. It will also aim to raise interest in the states and regions beyond Yangon, which has received the big share of FDI channeled into the country.