Economic Setting:

Myanmar

Reported by:

Genesis D. Montaño

(BSEd 3-B, Group 6)

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

• Myanmar is primarily anagricultural country. Some 63percent of the workingpopulation is engaged in growingor processing crops, whileanother 12 percent works inindustry. Before World War II

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

began in 1939, Myanmar wasthe world’s major rice exporter.After the war ended in 1945, thearea of land devoted toagriculture slowly recovered, butas the population grew thesurplus available for exportnever reached the earlier level.

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

From 1962 to 1988 thegovernment attempted todevelop the economy following a“Burmese Way to Socialism,”with nationalization of mostindustries. The policy was afailure, however, and in the

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

1990s the government openedthe economy to market forces,particularly inviting foreigninvestment. Still, many stateeconomic enterprises continueto lose money, the black marketflourishes, and the heavy

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

government spending for thegrowing military budget feedsinflation. By the mid-1990s, afterseveral years of significantgrowth, the levels of grossdomestic product (GDP),agricultural output,

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

consumption, and investment inMyanmar were about one-tenthhigher than they had been in1985-1986, the best year beforethe military coup d’état andpolitical unrest of 1988. Sincethe population had grown in the

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

interim, this means that theaverage person remained worseoff than a decade before. In 1997the United States imposedstrong economic sanctions onMyanmar to express disapprovalof the military government’s

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

human rights record. That sameyear Asia suffered a regionaleconomic downturn. Thesedevelopments affectedMyanmar’s economy, slowingforeign investment and raisinginflation.

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

An estimated 27.3 million peoplewere employed in the civilianeconomy in 2006. The largestportion, 63 percent, worked inagriculture, forestry, and fishing;25 percent were in services; andthe remaining 12 percent

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

was employed in manufacturing,construction, and mining. Asignificant portion of theworking-age population (those15 to 59) was engaged in otherinformal economic activities,such as the black market.

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

Some 15 percent of the totalland surface of Myanmar issuitable for farming, and only 2.8percent is irrigated. Farmers owntheir own land but must sell partof their production to thegovernment at a very low fixed

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

price. Myanmar remains animportant rice producer, basedon the annually flooded paddylands of the Irrawaddy delta andthe irrigated areas in UpperMyanmar. An estimated 25million metric tons of rice were

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

harvested in 2006. While thegreatest land area is devoted torice, significant amounts of landare also planted with sesame,peanuts, and a variety of beans,as well as sunflower, sugar cane,corn, cotton, and wheat.

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

Although the amount of landcultivated for most crops wasincreased in the late 1980s andearly 1990s, productivity fell, inpart because less fertilizer wasused. By the beginning of the21st century, use of fertilizers

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

had rebounded somewhat, andthe Food and AgricultureOrganization of the UnitedNations (UN) reported foodproduction was growing quickly.Generally, the terms of trade forMyanmar’s agricultural exports

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

(their world price compared tothe prices of manufacturedgoods that Myanmar imports)have been declining.

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

Myanmar is one of the world’smajor producers of opium, asubstance used in the productionof heroin for illegal drugtrafficking, mainly to Westerncountries. The drug trade withinMyanmar is carried on largely by

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

Sino-Burmese and Shan warlordsin the Golden Triangle areabordering Thailand, Laos, andChina. In the mid-1990s morethan 60 percent of the world’sheroin supply reportedly camefrom Myanmar. In 1997 the

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

government of Myanmar agreedto participate in a UN drug-control project to reduce theillegal production and traffickingof opium. Both production andarea harvested for opiumreportedly declined in the

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

late 1990s. In 2001 Myanmaragain became the world’s topsupplier of opium as the supplyfrom Afghanistan, which hadbecome the leading source,decreased dramatically.

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

The unit of currency is the kyat(5.80 kyats equal U.S.$1; 2006average), which is divided into100 pya. The black market rate in1995 was 100 to 120 kyats to theU.S. dollar. A dual currencysystem allows foreign exchange

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

certificates to be used for sometransactions. An increase in theprinting of currency to pay forurban reconstruction andbeautification has contributed toa high inflation rate. In additionto the Central Bank of Myanmar

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

(founded in 1990), thegovernment operates a numberof specialized banks. Foreignbanks also operate in Myanmarin a limited capacity.

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

Source:

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft

Corporation. All rights reserved.

Economic Setting:

Myanmar

Jeesuutin Baadae!!!

Economic Setting

as we

Understanding

Economic Community

for

establish an

Republic of the Philippines

CAPIZ STATE UNIVERSITY

Dumarao Satellite College, Dumarao, Capiz

Theme: “Understanding Better the Political, Economic & Socio-Cultural

Settings of Southeast Asian Nations forPeace, Prosperity & People”

May 25, 2015 (8:00-11:30 am)

Campus Library