The State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi delivers a keynote address at Myanmar-Japan Investment Dialogue on July 29

 

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Counsellor of Myanmar, said in her address to the country on September 25 that the country has managed to hold its economy from a downturn even though it is struggling due to the COVID-19. 

“Some of our people are concerned about the future in terms of economy and jobs. As I have said before, we have considered those factors. When looking at the number, the volume of investments until September this fiscal year has surpassed the previous fiscal year’s investment volume. What I want to highlight is that even though we are struggling with the COVID-19, we are doing well, to a certain extent, in managing the economy not to decline,” she said. 

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, the volume of trade this year as of September is lower than that of the same period last year. However, she stressed that the country is in the position of reaching the trade volume of the previous year since there are three more months remaining until the end of the year. 

“We are trying our best so that our people don’t need to worry about the future,” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said. 

Asia Development Bank’s latest report estimated the GDP of Myanmar to grow to 1.8 percent in 2020 compared to 6.8 percent in 2019 while the GDP of most Southeast Asian economies are estimated to contract.

Like Myanmar, Vietnam’s GDP growth is expected to have 1.8 percent and Burnie’s 1.4 percent.

Thailand’s GDP is estimated to contract by 8 percent, and Singapore 6.2 percent, Malaysia 5 percent, Cambodia 4 percent, and Philippines 7.3 percent.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt global economic activity, developing Asia’s gross domestic product is now expected to contract by 0.7% in 2020. GDP is projected to grow by 6.8% in 2021.

Written by Ko Myo

 

News Source : Myanmar BUSINESS TODAY