Foreign investment has reached $5.78 billion for this fiscal year so far, meaning the country is all but guar­anteed to hit its target of attracting $6 billion of in­flows, and is very likely to exceed it.

U Aung Naing Oo, Di­rector General of the Di­rectorate of Investment and Company Admin­istration, indicated last week that Myanmar could “easily” reach $7 billion before the April 1st dead­line, state media reported.

“We will try our utmost to check the (investment) proposals and grant per­mission not later than the end of March,” he said.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s new government has left many commentators un­impressed by its handling of the economy. Policies have been vague and slow to arrive, while a dras­tic fall in FDI in the first three quarters after she came to power have been held up as evidence of her government’s weak busi­ness credentials.

But a rush of new invest­ment approvals in recent weeks should mute some of that criticism, even if the $7 billion estimate falls short of the $9.48 billion that came in last year under the USDP.

As the new approvals racked up, U Aung Naing Oo began to strike a more confident tone about hit­ting the target for this year following concerns inflows would fall short because of a slow start to the financial year after the National League for Democracy took power in April.
Investors have been more cautious as they await clarity on the NLD’s economic policies, but the slowdown can also be attributed to the fact the Myanmar Invest­ment Commission was out of action for over two months after the hando­ver of power.

U Aung Naing Oo has said his office has enough investment applications pending to comfortably surpass the $6 billion target, and that it was just a matter of getting them approved before the deadline.

Addressing a meeting of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chamber of Commerce and In­dustry last week he also said that 2017 would be a more promising year for Myanmar, bolstered by increased activity in the ASEAN economic com­munity and deals due to be struck with Europe and Singapore.

The arrival of an amend­ed Myanmar Companies Act and the impending launch of the recently passed Myanmar Invest­ment Law will also em­bolden investors, he said.

Source: Myanmar Business Today