Myanmar attracted 5.7 billion USD in foreign direct investment in the last fiscal year 2017-18 (Photo: AFP)A Myanmar official has said the European Union (EU)'s probable withdrawal of its Generalised Scheme of Preference (GSP) will not impact the foreign investment flow into the country, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported on October 28.
U Than Aung Kyaw, deputy director general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA), explained that this will be due to the fact that EU countries have never been leading investors in Myanmar.
He added that the government is deliberating to work out a policy if the EU revokes the GSP.
The EU has granted the GSP for Myanmar since 2013. However, the EU Trade Commissioner announced on October 5 that they will send commission to Myanmar to observe for consideration to revoke GSP out of the Rakhine issue.
Statistics show that foreign investment in Myanmar reached 77.2 billion USD as of the end of August 2018 since late 1988, when the country opened to the investment. China topped foreign investors in the Southeast Asian nation with some 20 billion USD, followed by Singapore with 19.6 billion USD, and Thailand with 11 billion USD.
Britain was the biggest EU investor with nearly 4.4 billion USD, followed by the Netherlands with 1.5 billion USD at the ninth position.
The new Myanmar Companies Law 2017 came into effect on August 1, 2018,registering an important milestone with its efforts to promote foreign investment.
According to statistics, the country attracted 5.7 billion USD in foreign direct investment in the last fiscal year 2017-18 with Singapore topping the list of foreign investors with 2.1 billion USD./.