Myanmar improved its ranking on the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report f by six positions, coming in 165th place out of 190 countries on the index compared to 171st in the previous. 

The ease of doing business index in the report is released every year and based on 10 indicators (see infographic). The country made strides forward in several areas and is among the top 20 reformers for the year, according to the World Bank.

In starting a business, Myanmar leapt to 70th place from 152nd the year before. Just five years ago, it was the least favourable place in the world in which to do start a business. Brunei and Myanmar ranked first and second respectively in scaling up the starting a business index over the past five years.

U Aung Soe, secretary of Myanmar’s Committee for Ease of Doing Business, said the jump exceeded expectations. 

Among the reforms taken to improve the ease of starting a business in the country included making the necessary information easily available. Entrepreneurs said the level of corruption and red tape has also fallen. 

Meanwhile, it now only takes two days to register a new company on the country’s new online MyCo system, for a fee of just K250, 000, which is lower than before. 

U Aung Naing Oo, permanent secretary from the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, said the enforcement of the 2017 Myanmar Companies Law helped Myanmar substantially in reforming the process around starting a business and in protecting minority investors. It is now also much easier to register a new property.

The country also made progress in dealing with construction permits. In that area, Myanmar is now ranked 46 compared to 81 before. “The municipal departments made some significant improvements even though these have not been fully implemented. They have managed to improve in dealing with land registration issues,” U Aung Soe said. 

Despite moving up in the ranks, Myanmar is still the least favourable country to do business among the Asean countries, with Laos ranked 154th , still nine notches above Myanmar.

There was no progress made in trading across borders and resolving insolvencies, while the country actually slipped in the ranks in areas such as supplying electricity and paying taxes.

U Aung Soe said this is because up to 16 government departments are involved in cross-border trading. 

“Trading at the border doesn’t just involve the Ministry of Commerce. The port authorities, banking and tax regulators, the Food and Drug Administration, the veterinary department and transport department must all cooperate to regulate border trade and this is an obstacle to speed,” he said. 

U Aung Soe added that to improve trading across the border in a meaningful way, all the government parties involved must develop and improve as well. “To raise our rank, we need to make substantial changes, such as in the online system for taxation. It is extremely hard,” he said. 

In the meantime, the government is reducing the list of items that require export licenses and streamlining other processes as well, he said. 

Getting credit, another area the World Bank considers for its index, needs to improve as well. According to U Aung Soe, the number of loans made this year has been declining. “The banks dare not issue loans without collateral. Now, the banks have money but the people cannot borrow it to grow their businesses. This situation needs to change to become more practical. We are working on it,” he said. 

Nevertheless, “our doing business ratings will improve if we continue to keep up our efforts. It will support economic growth and we will continue to look forward to it,”said Aung Soe. – Translated