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 mismanagement of the previous regime. Approximately 32% of the population lives in poverty and Burma is the poorest country in Southeast Asia. The business climate is widely perceived as opaque, corrupt, and highly inefficient. Wealth from country's ample natural resources is concentrated in the hands of an elite group of military leaders and business associates. In 2010-11, the transfer of state assets - especially real estate - to military families 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 multiple official exchange rates that overvalue the Burmese kyat, fiscal deficits, lack of commercial credit further distorted by a non-market interest rate regime, unpredictable inflation, unreliable economic data, and an inability to reconcile national accounts. Burma's poor investment climate - including weak rule of law - 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 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 poor infrastructure, unpredictable trade policies, undeveloped human resources (the result of neglected health and education systems), endemic corruption, and inadequate access to capital for investment. Private banks still operate under tight domestic and international restrictions, limiting the private sector's access to credit. During the past decade the United States, the European Union, and Canada had imposed financial and economic sanctions on Burma. US sanctions prohibited most financial transactions with Burmese entities, imposed travel bans on senior Burmese military and civilian leaders and others connected to the ruling regime, and banned 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. Many of these sanctions are being lifted, in response to the new liberalization that is taking place in Burma. Remittances from overseas Burmese workers - who had provided significant financial support for their families - have driven the Ministry of Finance to license domestic banks to carry out overseas operations. In 2011 the government took initial steps toward reforming and opening up the economy by lowering export taxes, easing restrictions on its financial sector, and reaching out to international organizations for assistance. 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; fish and fish products; hardwood
Industrial Production Growth Rate
4.3% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 76
Labor Force
33.41 million (2012 est.)country comparison to the world: 19
Unemployment Rate
5.4% (2012 est.)country comparison to the world: 53 5.5% (2011 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: $2.234 billion
Expenditures: $4.414 billion (2012 est.)
Central Bank Discount Rate
9.95% (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 15 12% (31 December 2009 est.)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Stock of Narrow Money
$9.965 billion (31 December 2012 est.)country comparison to the world: 77 $8.652 billion (31 December 2011 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
$2.178 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)country comparison to the world: 8 $1.68 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)
Stock of Domestic Credit
$15.66 billion (31 December 2011 est.)country comparison to the world: 89 $11.83 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
Market Value of Publicly Traded Shares
$NA
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold
$4.107 billion (31 December 2012 est.)country comparison to the world: 97 $3.931 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Debt External
$5.448 billion (31 December 2012 est.)country comparison to the world: 111 $5.804 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment at Home
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment Abroad
Exchange Rates
kyats (MMK) per US dollar -867.6 (2012 est.) 815 (2011 est.) 5.58 (2010 est.) 1,055 (2009) 1,205 (2008)
