NEWS - Foreign Investment in Myanma

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Subject: NEWS - Foreign Investment in Myanmar Sharply Drops

Foreign Investment in Myanmar Sharply Drops

YANGON (Oct. 18) XINHUA - Foreign investment in Myanmar amounted to only
11.823 million U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, plummeting
by 94.73 percent from the same period of last year when 224.482 million
dollars came in. 

During the half-year period, Myanmar absorbed investment from India,
Thailand, Japan and Indonesia with 4.5 million dollars, 4.5 million
dollars, 1.446 million dollars and 1.377 million dollars respectively,
according to the latest figures published by the country's Central
Statistical Organization. 

Of the total, 7.323 million dollars were injected into manufacturing
sector in three projects, 3.5 million dollars into hotels and tourism
sector in one project and 1 million dollars into mining sector in one
project. 

The sharp drop of foreign investment was mainly attributed to the impact
of the Asian financial crisis. 

The Myanmar government openly admitted recently that due to the effect
of the crisis, direct investment from member countries of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations reduced by 70 percent. 

According to the statistics, since Myanmar opened to foreign investment
in late 1988, the country has drawn a total of 7.1 billion dollars from
24 countries and regions. 

The 10 major foreign investors lined up as Britain, Singapore, Thailand,
Malaysia, France, the United States, Indonesia, the Netherlands, the
Philippines and Japan. 

China ranked the 14th with 30.826 million dollars.