Myanmar Monitor Weekly
Photo from Reuters
Economy
Trade deficit reaches US$1.73 billion in government’s first six months
Myanmar’s trade deficit has reached US$1.73 billion in the NLD government’s first six months, beginning in April, significantly lower than the US$2.24 billion deficit reached over the same six-month period last year. During this period the total trade volume amounted to US$12.9 billion, with exports worth US$5.6 billion and imports US$7.3 billion, according to figures from the Ministry of Commerce.
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Government’s Foreign Investment Policy to be Released this Month
Foreign investment policy will be announced this month after President Htin Kyaw passes a revamped Myanmar Investment Law. Foreign investors and the Myanmar’s business community has been growing impatient waiting for details of the new policy, causing pledged foreign direct investment during the first half of the 2016-2017 fiscal year to decrease to less than half compared with the 2015-2016 fiscal year as investors await clear policy.
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Politics
Hundreds of armed men attack police in Myanmar; UN calls for restraint
More than a dozen soldiers and police have been killed since Friday with troops in the city of Maungtaw attacked by about 300 men armed with knives, pistols and swords. The UN calls on the civilian population of the area to exercise maximum restraint and not be provoked into any kind of response by targeting other communities or religious groups.
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Foreign Affairs
Singapore looking to attract more Myanmar tourists
Singapore hopes to double the number of Myanmar tourists, from the 105,000 arrivals it saw in 2015. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) launched a two-day Singapore Festival in Yangon on 8 October, featuring the various attractions the city-state offers. Citizens from both countries will no longer need visas to cross into each other’s borders, starting from December this year.
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Myanmar’s Suu Kyi to meet PM during maiden to India after taking office
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will meet India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week in India, the Indian foreign ministry said on 12 October. Suu Kyi, accompanied by her key ministers, will make her first official visit to India from October 17 to 19 after concluding a key sub-regional Asian summit in the western Indian state of Goa.
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UK Government to strengthen gas sector in Myanmar
A UK Government-supported programme, to strengthen the development of a modern, dynamic oil and gas sector in Myanmar, is to be launched later this month, according to a joint press release from the British Embassy in Yangon and Aberdeen International Associates (AIA). Mr Gordon McIntosh, Director and Chairman of the AIA, will visit Myanmar from 17-23 October to meet with Myanmar’s Government to identify how the UK can help build the capacity of government officials in the sector.
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