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 transfer of state assets, especially real estate, to cronies and military families in 2010 under the guise of a privatization policy further widened the gap between the economic elite and the public. The economy suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances - including unpredictable 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. 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 exploitation of natural resources does not benefit the population at large. The business climate is widely perceived as opaque, corrupt, and highly inefficient. Over 60% of the FY 2009-10 budget was allocated to state owned enterprises - most operating at a deficit. 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, and Canada have imposed financial and economic sanctions on Burma. US sanctions, prohibiting most financial transactions with Burmese entities, impose travel bans on senior Burmese military and civilian leaders and others connected to the ruling regime, and ban imports of 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. Although the Burmese government has good economic relations with its neighbors, significant improvements in economic governance, the business climate, and the political situation are needed to promote serious foreign investment.
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: 97
Labor Force
31.68 million (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 19
Electricity production
6.426 billion kWh (2008 est.)country comparison to the world: 106
Electricity Consumption
4.63 billion kWh (2008 est.)country comparison to the world: 115
Electricity Exports
0 kWh (2009 est.)
Electricity Imports
0 kWh (2009 est.)
Unemployment Rate
5.7% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 51 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)
Budget
Revenues: $1.411 billion
Expenditures: $3.042 billion (2010 est.)
Central Bank Discount Rate
9.95% (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 20 12% (31 December 2009 est.)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Stock of Narrow Money
$6.533 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 83 $4.44 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 January-February 2011, the unofficial black market rate averaged 890 kyat per dollar.
Stock of Broad Money
$10.89 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 98 $6.85 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Stock of Domestic Credit
$11.83 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 92 $7.538 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: 94 $3.561 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Debt External
$7.993 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 98 $8.186 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 -966 (2010)1,055 (2009)1,205 (2008)1,296 (2007)1,280 (2006)
