This is the first book dedicated to the scrutinization of Myanmar's unofficial foreign exchange market, its roots in restrictive administrative controls on foreign exchange and international trade, and its effects on the country’s economic performance. This book integrates vast pieces of records and data with first-hand information from extensive fieldwork to create an overall picture of the chaotic but seemingly efficient foreign exchange market in Myanmar, a transitional economy in Southeast Asia whose economic systems had been less known due to its isolation until recently. This book illustrates how the unofficial foreign exchange market emerged during the country’s transition to a market-based economy, how informal currency deals proliferated under restrictive controls, and why they persist despite the significant economic reforms since 2011. Refuting the conventional wisdom of foreign exchange policy reforms, this research clarifies path-dependent features of foreign exchange market systems, and it discusses possible solutions for modernizing economic systems. This book is highly recommended to readers who seek an in-depth analytical narrative about informal economic activities and foreign exchange policy reforms in a fragile state.

Myanmar's multiple exchange rate system creates various economic distortions. This paper describes the exchange rate practices in Myanmar, develops a model of foreign exchange markets, and presents the efficiency costs imposed by quasi-fiscal operation under the current exchange rate regime. The results of our model-based analyses indicate that the equilibrium exchange rate under the unified market could be at around K 400-500 per U.S. dollar, and using the equilibrium exchange rate (instead of the official exchange rate) as the accounting rate increases trade openness to more than 20 percent from less than 1 percent measured by official statistics. The total efficiency loss caused by the current multiple exchange rate regime is estimated at about 14-17 percent of GDP in 2006/07.

The grim state of the Myanmar economy in the second half of the 1980s forced the previous government of the Burma Socialist Programme Party to liberalize its external and internal trade. Since the military coup following political chaos in the later part of 1988, Japan, the European Community and the United States have suspended new economic aid to Myanmar. This has led to the present military government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), to work towards closer cooperation in diplomatic and trade relations with other Southeast Asian countries and to further liberalize its trade sector. This study explores and analyzes Myanmar's external trade and its trade relations with Southeast Asian nations, many of which are members of the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN), and raises issues and prospects of economic cooperation with neighbouring countries in the region, including the option for active participation in ASEAN.

Much attention has been paid to the increasingly substantial inflows of foreign direct investment into Myanmar since the country opened its doors to overseas investors in late 1988. In addition to bringing capital in the form of cash, such investment has also introduced new technology, training and skills, business and management acumen, as well as various other inputs that Myanmar undoubtedly requires if the country is to develop. However, there is a growing realization that FDI inflows alone will not enable the country to meet the ambitious economic growth targets. As evidenced by the "Asian Tiger" economies, there is also a need for considerable amounts of domestic capital. and in order to attain substantial levels of domestic investment a system of domestic savings "vehicles" -- that the state and industry can harness -- must be developed. Hence, this volume seeks to examine ways in which domestic savings and investment capital can be encouraged and increased. The contributors include not only Myanmar economists and policy-makers but also experts from ASEAN and Japan who share their experiences.

Over the six-year period 2006-11, the real exchange rate of the Myanmar kyat appreciated 200 per cent, resulting in the value of the US dollar in Myanmar falling to one-third of its pre-2006 level. While the resource boom is suspected to be the source of the real exchange rate appreciation, administrative controls on foreign exchange and imports had much more impact. Foreign exchange controls limited the convertibility of the kyat to foreign currencies and spurred negotiated transactions of foreign exchange outside the banking sector, hampering the foreign exchange market interventions of the government and Central Bank. Import controls repressed imports, aggravating excess supplies of foreign exchange. Relaxation of administrative controls is necessary for moderating currency appreciation.

2011 Updated Reprint. Updated Annually. Myanmar Business & Investment Opportunities Yearbook