The growth story of Myanmar,
formerly Burma, has been acknowledged by many in the global business
community. Apart from China, the US is now showing intense interest in
the formerly secluded state, and the recent visit of Japan’s new Prime
Minister Shinzo Abo in Yangon revealed that his country is also
extremely eager to re-establish the once fruitful economic relations.
There is an endless coming and going of investors from Singapore,
Thailand, Korea, Taiwan and Europe, and all are full of expectations to
capitalise on the fact that the country has to build up almost
everything from scratch.
“If I could put all of my money in Myanmar, I would,” Forbes magazine recently quoted popular US investor Jim Rogers as saying.
“It’s another great story. Fifty years of
isolation and dictatorial rule and it is finally starting to thaw. There
is no reason why Myanmar can’t approach the development of its
neighbours such as Thailand, given time, investment and a commitment to
freer markets. I think it will be one of the fastest-growing economies
in Asia.”
Notably, the Arab world is somehow reserved to
deal with Myanmar. Apart from Ooredoo, Qatar’s newly renamed telecom
major that is running a bid for a mobile phone licence in Myanmar, not
much interest has been shown yet in the many opportunities that Myanmar
holds.
It might have to do — to some extent — with the
way Myanmar deals with its Muslim minority of the Rohyingas, which has
been watched by the Gulf states with great discomfort.
However, and apart from this sensitive issue,
opportunities for Gulf companies and the highly-specialised oil and gas
firms in Qatar lie, in a first step, certainly in Myanmar’s natural gas
sector. From 2006 to present, Myanmar received more than $19bn from the
sale of natural gas to Thailand and is now eager to pump the same to
energy-hungry China.
The opportunity is that the entire infrastructure
is outdated and exploration has not been intensified during the
military rule due to sanctions and a lack of machinery and expertise.
Now that the country is open, a high demand for modernisation has
unfolded in the upstream and downstream oil and gas sectors, as well as
for pipelines and other transport logistics.
Another field where Myanmar is in need for potent
investors is construction. A construction boom in Myanmar’s commercial
capital Yangon and in and around the new industrial zones is fuelling
demand for dollars as builders import equipment and materials in large
quantities. Here, as well, Qatari expertise and funding could help as
the backlog demand is enormous.
Furthermore, over the next 20 years, Myanmar’s
infrastructure is predicted to need up to between $100bn and $150bn,
with another $40bn to $60bn estimated for property investment in Yangon
alone. This would actually be something to look into before the others
do.
source: Gulf Times
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