| Economy | Burma |
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Economy - overview:
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Burma, a resource-rich country, suffers from pervasive government controls, inefficient economic policies, corruption, and rural poverty. Despite Burma's emergence as a natural gas exporter, socio-economic conditions have deteriorated under the regime's mismanagement, leaving most of the public in poverty, while military leaders and their business friends exploit the country's ample natural resources. In 2010-11, the transfer of state assets - especially real estate - to military families under the guise of a privatization policy further widened the gap between the economic elite and the public. The economy suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances - including unpredictable inflation, fiscal deficits, multiple official exchange rates that overvalue the Burmese kyat, a distorted interest rate regime, unreliable statistics, and an inability to reconcile national accounts. Burma's poor investment climate hampers the inflow of foreign investment; in recent years, foreign investors have shied away from nearly every sector except for natural gas, power generation, timber, and mining. The exploitation of natural resources does not benefit the population at large. The business climate is widely perceived as opaque, corrupt, and highly inefficient. Over 60% of the FY 2009-10 budget was allocated to state owned enterprises - most operating at a deficit. The most productive sectors will continue to be in extractive industries - especially oil and gas, mining, and timber - with the latter two causing significant environmental degradation. Other areas, such as manufacturing, tourism and services, struggle in the face of inadequate infrastructure, unpredictable trade policies, neglected health and education systems, and endemic corruption. Private banks still operate under tight restrictions, limiting the private sector's access to credit. The United States, the European Union, and Canada have imposed financial and economic sanctions on Burma. US sanctions, prohibiting most financial transactions with Burmese entities, impose travel bans on senior Burmese military and civilian leaders and others connected to the ruling regime, and ban imports of Burmese products. These sanctions affected the country's fledgling garment industry, isolated the struggling banking sector, and raised the costs of doing business with Burmese companies, particularly firms tied to Burmese regime leaders. The global crisis of 2008-09 caused exports and domestic consumer demand to drop. Remittances from overseas Burmese workers - who had provided significant financial support for their families - slowed or dried up as jobs were lost and migrant workers returned home. In 2011 the government took initial steps toward reforming and opening up the economy by lowering export taxes, easing restrictions on its financial sector, and reaching out to international organizations for assistance. Although the Burmese government has good economic relations with its neighbors, significant improvements in economic governance, the business climate, and the political situation are needed to promote serious foreign investment. |
GDP (purchasing power parity):
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$82.72 billion (2011 est.)
$78.34 billion (2010 est.)
$74.36 billion (2009 est.)
note: data are in 2011 US dollars |
GDP - per capita (PPP):
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$1,300 (2011 est.)
$1,300 (2010 est.)
$1,200 (2009 est.)
note: data are in 2011 US dollars |
GDP (official exchange rate):
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$50.2 billion (2011 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate:
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5.5% (2011 est.)
5.5% (2010 est.)
5.1% (2009 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture: 43%
industry: 20.5%
services: 36.6% (2011 est.) |
Investment (gross fixed):
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16% of GDP (2011 est.) |
Population below poverty line:
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32.7% (2007 est.) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
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lowest 10%: 2.8%
highest 10%: 32.4% (1998) |
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
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void |
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
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8.9% (2011 est.)
7.7% (2010 est.) |
Central bank discount rate:
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9.95% (31 December 2010 est.)
12% (31 December 2009 est.) |
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
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17% (31 December 2011 est.)
17% (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of money:
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$622.6 billion (31 December 2008)
$598 billion (31 December 2007)
note: this number reflects the vastly overvalued official exchange rate of 5.38 kyat per dollar in 2007; at the unofficial black market rate of 1,305 kyat per dollar for 2007, the stock of kyats would equal only US$2.465 billion and Burma's velocity of money (the number of times money turns over in the course of a year) would be six, in line with the velocity of money for other countries in the region; in 2009, the unofficial black market rate averaged 1,090 kyat per dollar. |
Stock of money - per capita:
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11,530 USD per capita |
Stock of quasi money:
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$289.3 billion (31 December 2008)
$216.9 billion (31 December 2007) |
Stock of quasi money - per capita:
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5,358 USD per capita |
Stock of domestic credit:
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$15.66 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$11.83 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of domestic credit - per capita:
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291 USD per capita |
Stock of narrow money:
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$8.531 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$6.533 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
note: this number reflects the vastly overvalued official exchange rate of 5.38 kyat per dollar in 2007; at the unofficial black market rate of 1,305 kyat per dollar for 2007, the stock of kyats would equal only US$2.465 billion and Burma's velocity of money (the number of times money turns over in the course of a year) would be six, in line with the velocity of money for other countries in the region; in January-February 2011, the unofficial black market rate averaged 890 kyat per dollar. |
Stock of broad money:
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$14.4 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$10.89 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Labor force:
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32.53 million (2011 est.) |
Labor force participation rate:
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60.24 % of population |
Labor force - by occupation:
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agriculture: 70%
industry: 7%
services: 23% (2001) |
Unemployment rate:
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5.5% (2011 est.)
5.7% (2010 est.) |
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24:
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void |
Budget:
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revenues: $2.016 billion
expenditures: $4.272 billion (2011 est.) |
Budget revenues per capita:
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38 USD per capita |
Taxes and other revenues:
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4% of GDP (2011 est.) |
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-):
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-4.5% of GDP (2011 est.) |
Public debt:
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void |
Industries:
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agricultural processing; wood and wood products; copper, tin, tungsten, iron; cement, construction materials; pharmaceuticals; fertilizer; oil and natural gas; garments, jade and gems |
Industrial production growth rate:
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4.3% (2010 est.) |
Electricity - production:
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6.426 billion kWh (2008 est.) |
Electricity - production per capita:
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120 kWh per capita |
Electricity - consumption:
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4.63 billion kWh (2008 est.) |
Electricity - consumption - per capita:
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86 kWh per capita |
Electricity - exports:
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0 kWh (2009 est.) |
Electricity - imports:
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0 kWh (2009 est.) |
Oil - production:
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21,120 bbl/day (2010 est.) |
Oil - production per capita:
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392 bbl/day per capita |
Oil - consumption:
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37,000 bbl/day (2010 est.) |
Oil - consumption - per capita:
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0.25 bbl/year per capita |
Oil - exports:
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0 bbl/day (2009 est.) |
Oil - imports:
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19,700 bbl/day (2009 est.) |
Oil - proved reserves:
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50 million bbl (1 January 2011 est.) |
Natural gas - production:
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11.54 billion cu m (2009 est.) |
Natural gas - production per capita:
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214 cu m per capita |
Natural gas - consumption:
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3.25 billion cu m (2009 est.) |
Natural gas - consumption - per capita:
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61 cu m per capita |
Natural gas - exports:
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8.29 billion cu m (2009 est.) |
Natural gas - imports:
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0 cu m (2009 est.) |
Natural gas - proved reserves:
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283.2 billion cu m (1 January 2011 est.) |
Agriculture - products:
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rice, pulses, beans, sesame, groundnuts, sugarcane; hardwood; fish and fish products |
Current account balance:
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$997.3 million (2011 est.)
$1.553 billion (2010 est.) |
Current account balance - per capita:
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19 USD per capita |
Exports:
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$9.543 billion (2011 est.)
$8.586 billion (2010 est.)
note: official export figures are grossly underestimated due to the value of timber, gems, narcotics, rice, and other products smuggled to Thailand, China, and Bangladesh |
Exports per capita:
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177 USD per capita |
Exports - commodities:
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natural gas, wood products, pulses, beans, fish, rice, clothing, jade and gems |
Exports - partners:
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Thailand 38.3%, India 20.8%, China 12.9%, Japan 5.2% (2010) |
Imports:
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$5.498 billion (2011 est.)
$4.224 billion (2010 est.)
note: import figures are grossly underestimated due to the value of consumer goods, diesel fuel, and other products smuggled in from Thailand, China, Malaysia, and India |
Imports per capita:
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102 USD per capita |
Imports - commodities:
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fabric, petroleum products, fertilizer, plastics, machinery, transport equipment; cement, construction materials, crude oil; food products, edible oil |
Imports - partners:
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China 38.9%, Thailand 23.2%, Singapore 12.9%, South Korea 5.8% (2010) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
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$3.929 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$3.762 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold - per capita:
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73 USD per capita |
Debt - external:
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$8.145 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$7.993 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Debt - external - per capita:
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151 USD per capita |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
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void |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home - per capita:
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void |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
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void |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad - per capita:
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void |
Market value of publicly traded shares:
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$NA |
Market value of publicly traded shares - per capita:
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void |
Currency (code):
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kyat (MMK) |
Exchange rates:
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kyats (MMK) per US dollar -
815 (2011 est.)
970 (2010 est.)
1,055 (2009)
1,205 (2008)
1,296 (2007) |
Fiscal year:
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1 April - 31 March |
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