Myanmar’s economic transformation is ineffective because it lacks a specific focus and is being implemented too quickly, the head of the presidential economic advisory team, Dr U Myint, said on March 19.
“The government’s ‘economic reformation’ plan is simply too fast,” Dr U Myint, told a news conference at the presidential advisors’ office on Thanlwin Road, Yangon.
“It’s pretty much impossible to reform Myanmar’s economy, which has been severely affected by deficient planning for more than 50 years, in a short period of time,” he said.
“Moreover, the work lacks focus and they are doing too much at once which has made this ‘reformation’ ineffective.”
Dr U Myint said there had been positive developments, including granting independence to the Central Bank, but many business people continued to complain about obstacles and inconveniences.
Referring to moves by the government to privatise some state-run enterprises and to initiate public-private partnerships, he said there was an urgent need for a Privatisation Law.
"Some businesses are said to be private but are still under the government’s control,” Dr U Myint said.
“If the government hands these businesses over to those who are close to them, it will have a negative effect on the citizens,” he said, adding that a privatisation law was urgently needed to ensure transparency.
“We do not have a privatisation law and the reformation processes are amazingly fast.”
U Myint said the government needed to pay more attention to the pace of economic reform but had been distracted by holding the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year and the election due late next year.
