Economy Overview
Burma, a resource-rich country, suffers from pervasive government controls, inefficient economic policies, corruption, and rural poverty. Despite Burma's emergence as a natural gas exporter, socio-economic conditions have deteriorated under the regime's mismanagement, leaving most of the public in poverty, while military leaders and their business cronies exploit the country's ample natural resources. The economy suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances - including rising inflation, fiscal deficits, multiple official exchange rates that overvalue the Burmese kyat, a distorted interest rate regime, unreliable statistics, and an inability to reconcile national accounts to determine a realistic GDP figure. Burma's poor investment climate hampers the inflow of foreign investment; in recent years, foreign investors have shied away from nearly every sector except for natural gas, power generation, timber, and mining. The business climate is widely perceived as opaque, corrupt, and highly inefficient. Over 60% of the FY 2009-10 budget is allocated to state owned enterprises - most operating at a deficit. The government has recently privatized a number of state owned enterprises, but most of the benefits have accrued to regime insiders and cronies. The most productive sectors will continue to be in extractive industries - especially oil and gas, mining, and timber - with the latter two causing significant environmental degradation. Other areas, such as manufacturing, tourism and services, struggle in the face of inadequate infrastructure, unpredictable trade policies, neglected health and education systems, and endemic corruption. A major banking crisis in 2003 caused 20 private banks to close; private banks still operate under tight restrictions, limiting the private sector's access to credit. The United States, the European Union, Canada, and Australia have imposed financial and economic sanctions on Burma, prohibiting most financial transactions with Burmese entities, imposing travel bans on Burmese officials and others connected to the ruling regime, and banning imports of certain Burmese products. These sanctions affected the country's fledgling garment industry, isolated the struggling banking sector, and raised the costs of doing business with Burmese companies, particularly firms tied to Burmese regime leaders. The global crisis of 2008-09 caused exports and domestic consumer demand to drop. Remittances from overseas Burmese workers - who had provided significant financial support for their families - slowed or dried up as jobs were lost and migrant workers returned home. Though the Burmese government has good economic relations with its neighbors, better investment and business climates and an improved political situation are needed to promote serious foreign investment, exports, and tourism.
Agriculture Products
rice, pulses, beans, sesame, groundnuts, sugarcane; hardwood; fish and fish products
Industries
agricultural processing; wood and wood products; copper, tin, tungsten, iron; cement, construction materials; pharmaceuticals; fertilizer; oil and natural gas; garments, jade and gems
Industrial Production Growth Rate
4.3% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 77
Labor Force
31.68 million (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 18
Electricity production
6.286 billion kWh (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 105
Electricity Consumption
4.403 billion kWh (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 113
Electricity Exports
0 kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity Imports
0 kWh (2008 est.)
Unemployment Rate
5.7% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 56 4.9% (2009 est.)
Population Below Poverty Line
32.7% (2007 est.)
Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share
Lowest 10%: 2.8%
Highest 10%: 32.4% (1998)
Central Bank Discount Rate
12% (31 December 2009)country comparison to the world: 34 12% (31 December 2008)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Stock of Narrow Money
$4.907 billion (31 December 2010 est)country comparison to the world: 89 $4.038 billion (31 December 2009 est) note: this number reflects the vastly overvalued official exchange rate of 5.38 kyat per dollar in 2007; at the unofficial black market rate of 1,305 kyat per dollar for 2007, the stock of kyats would equal only US$2.465 billion and Burma's velocity of money (the number of times money turns over in the course of a year) would be six, in line with the velocity of money for other countries in the region; in 2009, the unofficial black market rate averaged 1,090 kyat per dollar.
Stock of Broad Money
$7.8 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 108 $6.231 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Stock of Domestic Credit
$8.552 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 98 $6.858 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Market Value of Publicly Traded Shares
$NA
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold
$3.762 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 79 $3.561 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Debt External
$7.145 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 96 $7.079 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment at Home
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment Abroad
Exchange Rates
kyats (MMK) per US dollar - 1,000 (2010), 1,055 (2009), 1,205 (2008), 1,296 (2007), 1,280 (2006)
