TODAY

Yangon, October 31, 2014 __ A new World Bank Group survey in Myanmar finds that reforms of the country’s investment climate are urgent across a number of areas, especially access to finance, land, electricity and skilled workers, which were identified as the top constraints. Addressing these key constraints is critical to ensuring a fair and transparent business environment in which all private enterprises can grow and create jobs.

The Enterprise Survey was carried out in the Spring of 2014, covering Yangon, Mandalay, Monywa, Taunggyi, and Bago. This survey of private sector firms in Myanmar included interviews from more than a thousand foreign and domestic non-agricultural businesses, in manufacturing, retail and other services. Some 23 percent of firms identified access to finance as the top barrier to their operations- just 30 percent of the surveyed firms has a bank account, by far the lowest figure in the region.

More than a fifth of those surveyed indicated access to land as the main problem, while 17 percent and 9 percent cited access to electricity and access to skilled workers as their primary constraints, respectively. The World Bank Group has conducted similar surveys in 130 countries with more than 130, 000 firms across the globe.

“The findings from the survey offer not only a good snapshot of Myanmar’s current situation, but also allow comparison across countries, in order to assess the business environment and barriers facing firms doing business in Myanmar,” said Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank Country Manager in Myanmar. “The survey results and analysis will help inform government policy to create a level playing field that helps promote investment, productivity, growth and jobs.”

The Survey in Myanmar is supported by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, and has been carried out in close Collaboration with the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development.

The Enterprise Survey data and Doing Business 2015 finds that Myanmar made trading across borders easier by reducing the number of documents required for exports and imports. Myanmar is among 15 out of the 25 economies in East Asia and the pacific that implemented at least one regulatory reform to ease business during the fiscal year that ended in June 2014.