December 2016, Roland Berger published the first Myanmar business survey. The results showed an enormous sense of optimism among both local and international investors: 73% of business people expected the business landscape to (rapidly) improve. This optimism, which was arguably unparalleled worldwide, resulted from the political and economic changes the country had recently undergone, including economic reforms particularly in the telecom sector, democratic elections and a peaceful transition to a new government led by Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as the subsequent lifting of US sanctions.
To assess how this business sentiment has evolved since then, Roland Berger launched the second Roland Berger Myanmar Business Confidence Survey, conducted in June-August 2017, this time in cooperation with the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), the leading chamber of commerce in the country. This second survey captures the latest business sentiment of almost 500 owners and senior executives from companies of all sizes (compared to 179 responses in the 2016 survey). In the latest survey, 61% of the respondents are local companies (compared to 38% in 2016) and 39% are international firms (compared to 62% in 2016).
The survey results show a drastic decline in short-term business sentiment, with only 49% of executives expecting the business landscape to (rapidly) improve within the next 12 months, compared to 73% in 2016. The drop is consistent across local companies (from 76% to 50%) and international firms (from 71% to 49%). It should be noted that the survey was conducted before the latest developments in Rakhine state in August and September 2017, which is likely to have further reduced investor confidence in Myanmar.
Roland Berger Myanmar Business Survey 1 by Than Han on Scribd
No comments:
Post a Comment