BANGKOK
BUSINESS BRIEF
Vol. No. 2, Issue No. 4
Mid-March/Mid-April 2013
Photo by Stefan Munder
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Here cometh the latecomers By Raymond Babbitt
As the world’s attention has mar, investors from around the shifted to the opening of Myan- world seem to be both excited and cautious about the opportunities in this strategically located country with a tumultuous hisGeneral Interest 2 tory. Economically and socially, Production 3 Myanmar’s lowest point was in 1987 when the United Nations Finance/Investment 4 declared that it had joined the Government/Economy 6 ranks of the world’s least develRetail/Services 8 oped countries. While it is curTourism 10 rently the fourth largest nation Real Estate 12 in ASEAN in terms of populaIT/Comms 14 tion, Myanmar’s economy is still The Chambers 16 only one tenth the size of the The Calendar 22 Thai economy, and has a range of infrastructure and institu-
Inside
tional issues that make many potential investors nervous. But while these possible pitfalls exist, Myanmar also has the advantage of what some call ‘Latecomer’s Syndrome’: the ability to learn from the experiences, and especially the mistakes, of neighboring countries like Thailand, that have seen steady, and sometimes dramatic, economic growth over the past five or six decades.
try laid the foundations for its economic growth in the 1980s, the 1990s, and through most of the 21st century so far. During this era, Thailand established its Budget Bureau (1959), Fiscal Policy Office (1961), Board of Investment, and revamped its National Economic and Social Development Board (1959). With the Bank of Thailand, these agencies set annual budgets for the government and placed a After the devastation of World priority on development projWar II, Thailand’s economy was ects, especially infrastructure. agricultural-based, but in the peStory continues on Page 20 riod from 1950-1973, the coun-