Myanmar gets over 53 mln USD in foreign investment in September

YANGON, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Contracted foreign investment in Myanmar amounted to 53.45 million U.S. dollars in September, bringing the total to over 44.21 billion dollars as of the end of the month since 1988, according to latest figures from the Central Statistical Organization.

Of the investment in September, which came from nine countries and regions, 37.6 million dollars were injected into the manufacturing sector, 6.61 million dollars went to the agriculture sector, 5.2 million dollars to tourism, and 4.04 million dollars to mining.

Among those countries and regions, China's Hong Kong ranked the first by pouring 12.45 million dollars into the country, followed by Britain, South Korea and France.

As of the end of August, China had invested 14.19 billion dollars in Myanmar, China's Hong Kong had channeled 6.45 billion dollars, South Korea, 3.04 billion dollars, Singapore, 2.44 billion dollars, Malaysia, 1.63 billion dollars, and Japan, 274 million dollars.

Myanmar promulgated a new foreign investment law in November 2012 to replace the over-two-decade-old similar law in a bid to attract more foreign investment to the country in line with its reform strategy.

However, rocketing prices of real estate is deterring new foreign investment from entering Myanmar.

According to Myanmar Economic Indicators released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Myanmar's gross domestic product (GDP) is growing by 5.5 percent in 2013, with consumer price inflation at 7.3 percent.

It is projected that the GDP will rise 6.2 percent in 2014, with consumer price inflation at 6.6 percent.

source: Xinhua

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