Managing Director of True Money Myanmar
Can you introduce yourself, please?
I have been in Myanmar for more than 5 years now and it is like my second home now. It has been like two decades of experiences in setting up and launching technology businesses that are primarily in telecommunication, Oil & Gas, Organized retail and FinTech.
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Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations
Please introduce DICA for our readers.
I was the Director General of DICA until the end of March this year and have been transferred to the Union Minister’s Office since first April. As mention in its name DICA has two roles to play. The duties of DICA are to be an investment promotion agency of Myanmar, the secretariat of Myanmar Investment Commission and the regulator of companies in the country.
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Deputy General Manager UnionPay Southeast Asia
Questions:
Can you tell us more about UnionPay?
“UnionPay is a global payment brand that serves the world’s largest cardholder base with over 7 billion cards issued worldwide. Our cards are accepted in 174 countries and regions across the world and are issued in 52 countries and regions. As leaders in the payment brand sector, we work to bring innovative payment solutions to Cardholders around the world while also being focused on realizing the vision of a cashless society by connecting consumers, businesses and financial institutions through digital payments via our global network.
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The price of domestic gold might continue to fall to 1 million Kyats per tical (0.578 ounce), said Ohn Myaing, General Secretary of the Myanmar Gold Entrepreneurs Association.
Pure domestic gold was sold at 1,017,000 Kyats per tical on December 3. The dollar exchange rate and fuel oil prices are currently on the downward slide. Domestic gold prices and US dollar exchange rates are directly related to the global market. With the local currency strengthening against the US dollar, domestic gold prices are likely to keep falling, according to the Association.
“It is pretty hard to predict in the local market as to whether or not pure gold prices would dip below 1 million Kyats per tical. Yet, it might fluctuate around 1 million Kyats. As Myanmar’s currency is gaining in the market, gold prices will simultaneously plunge. The price is forecast to fluctuate at around 1 million kyats”, said Ohn Myaing, general secretary of Myanmar Gold Entrepreneurs Association.
The domestic gold price was around 1,040,000 Kyats per tical in early November and, it has gradually dropped to 1,017,000 Kyats.
Ministry Received Warning from Country’s Leaders
The Union Ministry for Religious Affairs and Culture Thura U Aung Ko was warned by the country’s top leaders for the usage of “an extreme religious” expression concerning Bengalis who arrived in Bangladesh according to Zaw Htay, spokesperson of the President’s Office.
During the talk given to the monks at the funeral ceremony for Myaing Gyi Ngu Sayadaw which was held in Kayin State on November 2018, Thura U Aung Ko is said to have used the alleged words, but later in Nay Pyi Taw, he added that those words did not refer to the domestic Muslims, but Bengalis who arrived in Bangladesh. Zaw Htay said Bangladesh summoned Myanmar’s ambassador for the use of the term, but it does not affect the repatriation work that has been undertaken between the two countries, and the work was continued according to the agreement.
Rakhine Chief Minister Discussed about Regional Development
Nyi Pu, Rakhine State Chief Minister, together with State Ministers, Hluttaw representatives, and state and district level departmental officials discussed developmental affairs with local residents of Shwe Oo Kwin, Kingpone and Zeegoene village tracts in Gwa Township on November 24. The party discussed matters regarding the action to take against the illegal timber trade along Set Thwar Creek, assistance from the government for farmers, the conditions of school buildings and reconstructions in Kingpone Village, which was damaged by Cyclone Mala in 2016, and plans for building a rural health center branch and assistance for the tourism sector.
Moreover, the assistance of 1.3 million Kyats for high school in Shwe Oo Kwin Village, 1.5 million Kyats for the repair of schools in Kingpone village tract, and 2.4 million Kyats for schools in Zeegoene village tracts were given out.
State Counselor Meets President of India
State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi met with the President of the Republic of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind and his delegation in the Envoys Hall of the Presidential Palace in Nay Pyi Taw on December 11. At the meeting, matters relating to increasing the historically long bilateral relations and cooperation; India’s continuing support and assistance to Myanmar’s democracy transition and peace process; increasing trade and continuing cooperation in developing basic infrastructure for peace, stability and development along the border regions of the two countries; increasing bilateral cooperation in education, health, agriculture and economic matters; opening of a temporary liaison office in Nay Pyi Taw in order to move the Embassy of India to Nay Pyi Taw; India’s continued cooperation with Myanmar in its efforts toward receiving returnees back to Rakhine State and rule of law works, were discussed and views exchanged. The President of India expressed his appreciation to Myanmar for granting visa on arrival to Indian citizens arriving in Myanmar via air starting from December 1, 2018 as it would increase contacts and relations between the citizens of the two countries and develop tourism.
Italy and Myanmar Discussed about Business Engagement
Italy, one of the European Union (EU) members and Myanmar discussed about the engagement of business on November 29, according to Dr. Maung Maung Lay, the Vice President at Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce Industry (UMFCCI).
Led by Alessandra Schiavo, Italian Ambassador to Myanmar, the businessmen party met with the representatives from UMFCCI and held the discussions concerning transformers, distributions and sales of electric energy and generators.
Dr. Maung Maung Lay said, “For now, they have came here for the purpose of selling their products and they have offered to support us with their technologies for the purpose of developing of electricity, glass factories, and they will also conduct study courses and send experts from there.” Italy has not made investments here yet but Myanmar – Italy total trade has been $217 million, with the exports about $106 million and the import of $111 million in 2017.
Samsung Launched Galaxy A9
Samsung Myanmar announced the launch of Galaxy A9 on December 1, for those who love to explore, capture the moment and share it as they see it. Zarni Win Htet, Head of IT and Mobile Group at Samsung Myanmar said, “As a global leader in smartphone innovation, we understand the smartphone has become so much more than just a phone to consumers and the demand for meaningful innovation is high.”
“Building on our legacy in smartphone camera development, we are constantly introducing next-generation technology across our entire Galaxy portfolio to give more consumers the opportunity to experience cutting-edge innovation. We are excited to deliver on this promise and debut world’s leading smartphone camera technology with the Galaxy A9”, he said.
Central Bank Denies Huge Dollar Purchase Made to Benefit Local Banks
The Central Bank of Myanmar has denied claims that its purchase of more than $30 million from local private banks last week, at a time when the currency was weak, was made specifically in order to benefit the lenders.
“The greenback weakened steeply on December 4. Media reports claimed that the central bank bought U.S. dollars fearing that it would weaken. That is wrong. The accusation that we intentionally bought U.S. dollars to benefit banks is totally inaccurate,” Central Bank of Myanmar vice governor Soe Thein said on December 11 at the Myanmar Banks Association in Yangon. The central bank then bought dollars from private banks, causing the kyat to slump against the dollar again. At that time, private banks bought U.S dollars for between 1,500 and 1,515 Kyats per dollar from outside dealers and sold them to the central bank for 1,570 Kyats.
Local private banks made billions of kyats in a single day thanks to the Central Bank’s decision to buy millions of U.S dollars from them, critics said. The central bank’s reference exchange rate was 1,561 Kyats to the dollar, while the buying and selling prices in the market were 1,552 Kyats and 1,542 Kyats respectively on December 10, 2018.
The first ever Yangon International Motor Show (2019) was announced on December 4. Hosted by Bangkok based Grand Prix International Public Company (GPI Myanmar Company) and Yangon based Automotive Association of Myanmar (AAM), this event will be held under the concept “Navigating the Automotive Industry of Tomorrow” recognizing Myanmar’s recent rapid socio-economic developments and changes in living standards and lifestyles of Myanmar citizens.
The plan for first Yangon International Motor Show was officially announced by GPI Myanmar Company and Automotive Association of Myanmar, at Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Signing Ceremony and Press Conference held at Novotel Yangon Max Hotel and it was attended by VIPs, Officials from GPI and AAM and respected members of the Press.
Myanmar automotive industry has seen drastic changes in the recent years and with the increasing interest from the general public and higher purchasing power, the event aims to enhance and support the growth and development of the automotive industry in Myanmar. The show also represents a strong collaboration between Automotive Association of Myanmar and Grand Prix International Public Company. The President of Yangon International Motor Show, Anothai Eamlumonow said, “The global automotive industry embraces changes regularly and thus why auto shows are being held across the world featuring advances and innovations in design concept, technology and innovations throughout the year. We have vast experiences and expertise in organizing motor shows across ASEAN and we are incorporating these concepts and ideas bring you one-of-a-kind automotive extravaganza for the first time in Myanmar. We are confident that the first Yangon International Motor Show will capture the attention from everyone from Myanmar automotive industry as well attracts the hearts of car enthusiasts with exciting experiences, features and activities.”
The show will feature more than 20 international automotive brands including the likes of BMW, MercedesBenz, Volvo, Toyota, Suzuki, Nissan, Honda, Ford, Chevrolet, Hyundai, KIA, Jaguar, Land Rover, DFM. Visitors to the show can have first-hand experience of the latest car models, embrace technology and innovations of today and tomorrow and participate in many interesting activities. Visitors may also enjoy special promotions and discounts allowing them to purchase a new car with great ease at the show which will open up greater opportunities and support growth of Myanmar Automotive Industry. Aung Win, Chairman of Automotive Association of Myanmar (AAM) revealed, “Organizing an International Standard Motor Show goes in-line with the development of the host nation. The show will not be a success without the strong interest for innovation, knowledge and purchasing power of the general public.
We firmly believe that by collaborating with an organization such as GPI Myanmar Company, utilizing their expertise and experience in organizing various motor shows across ASEAN, we will bring immeasurable benefits for the members of Automotive Association of Myanmar and to the general public.” The first Yangon International Motor Show (2019) will be held from January 23 to 27, 2019 at the Yangon Convention Center (YCC). This is more than just a car show and interested companies and organizations from different industries are invited to acquire standard booths in accessories zone for engagement and maximum brand exposure.
Mango Group, Myanmar’s Integrated Marketing Communications Company, had scored huge wins at the Campaign Asia Agency of the Year Awards held on December 17 at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia in Singapore.
Mango Advertising Company—formerly Mango Marketing Services, was awarded Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar region’s Gold Award for Independent Agency of the Year and the Silver Award for Creative Agency of the Year. Mango Media, the media planning and buying arm of the group, won the Gold Award for Media Agency of the year, besting other agencies from the same region. Wave Digital, Mango Group’s digital agency, snatched the Bronze Award for Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar Digital Agency of the Year.
Lynn Lynn Tin Tun, Managing Director of Mango Advertising Company said, “This is a wonderful double award for Mango Advertising and a huge night of successes for the whole Mango Group. We are proud to win a Gold Award two years in a row, this year with an additional Silver win. And we could not have done this without the trust of our clients and the support of our staff.”
Mango Advertising’s win comes from the numerous effective and high impact campaigns it rolled out for its clients; most notable of which is branding Myanmar. The agency also won the Gold Award for Creative Agency of the Year for 2017. Rose Swe, CEO of Mango Media Group said, “We are extremely happy and proud to win this award for our group, our company and for Myanmar. This validates our commitment to giving the best service to our clients and the premium we place on the development of our personnel.” Maria Abril, General Manager of Mango Media said, “Mango Media team’s diligence the entire year paid off. Rose and Lynn Lynn were instrumental in maintaining the Mango Group’s market leadership. This Gold Award makes the sleepless nights and long hours all worth the while.” Aian Garay, General Manager of Wave Digital said, “We were hopeful, but not really expecting to win this year. Definitely the Bronze Award we are going to bring back to Myanmar will serve as an inspiration to strive harder to make our clients and their campaigns stand out.”
Lavina Tauro, Country Manager of Viu Myanmar shared the current status of Viu Myanmar and the new local partnerships on December 6 at Mango Media Office. She said, “After a detailed market study, we introduced six languages to Myanmar as consumers want to watch content from them. We regularly take feedback in group studies as well as from our social media platforms and implement consumer requests to best of our abilities. We have upped our output of Burmese content. When we launched in September, we had 130 hours of Burmese and this month we have reached 250+ hours on an average one burmese movie is added every day to the application.”
Regarding current status and numbers of Viu users, over ten percent of Yangon’s digital audience is on Viu and 75 percent of Viu’s monthly active users are from Yangon. Up until November 30, the number of monthly active users has grown ten times and the number of hours that a user spends on Viu and the videos watched per user have been increasing for three times. In addition, there are more than 175 million minutes of content has been consumed on Viu. Viu Myanmar recently collaborated with 2C2P, a leading Southeast Asian (SEA) payment solutions company, to expand their payment channels for buying Viu premium subscription. This partnership enables Viu’s customers to purchase premium subscription easily and conveniently pay at over 25,000 stores including convenient stores like City Express and ABC.
PEB Steel Myanmar has proudly exported out of Myanmar for the first time in November after launching the factory in Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for a year. The fabrication for all these structures was done in own factory within 23 days. The destination is Philippines and the amount of Tonnes of 135.372 MT were loaded in ten containers. The loading takes eight days and the manpower was approximately 20 men for loading the skids. This is the first steel pre-engineered building products job export from Myanmar.
