Frontier markets

Myanmar: Tough road getting into international markets

In the face of democratic backsliding and international sanctions, the troubled Southeast Asian nation looks further away from securing the foreign investment it needs to support domestic growth.

Myanmar has the potential to more than quadruple its economy to over $200 billion by 2030, declared the McKinsey Global Institute back in 2013.

Should it get a second chance, the international think-tank may want to rethink that.

Similar to Bangladesh, Myanmar, aka Burma, was once seen as Asia’s untapped jewel. And, to be sure, it has also grown by more than 5% a year in recent decades with the exception of post-crisis 2009 when its GDP growth slowed to 4.4%, much like its neighbour.

But Myanmar also has the unwanted Bangladeshi characteristic of having low levels of foreign investment. In...

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