A ribbon-cutting ceremony in February 2017 to mark the start of construction to expand the Japanese-backed Thilawa Special Economic Zone near Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon. (Kyodo/VNA) Tokyo (VNA) - About 70 percent of Japanese companies investing in Myanmarwill either maintain or expand their operations in the Southeast Asian countryin a year or two despite the impact of politicalinstability and the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Japan External TradeOrganisation report.
The report quoted a JETROsurvey as saying 52.3 percent of Japanese investors will maintain current levels of operations inMyanmar and 13.5 percent will expand them, while 27.5 percent will scale backtheir business in the country and 6.7 percent will withdraw from the country ormove their operations to a third country.
The report said if the businessenvironment continues to deteriorate in Myanmar, more Japanese investors mayhave no choice but to reduce their operations or withdraw.
The United Nations said thatthe political and security situation in Myanmar is expected to remain volatilein 2022, and the country will experience the fourth wave of COVID-19 due to a relatively low vaccinationrate and the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus.
In October, the InternationalMonetary Fund forecast that Myanmar's economy would shrink 17.9percent in 2021, down 9.0 percentage points from the Washington-basedinstitution's estimate in April. The IMF also projected thatMyanmar's gross domestic product would contract 0.1 percent in 2022.
According to the JETRO survey,63.6 percent of respondents expected their 2021 operating profits to fall froma year earlier, while 27.8 percent forecast they would chalk up the same levelof profit.
About 180 companies respondedto the survey conducted in August and September. As of late June, a total of433 Japanese companies had invested in Myanmar.
A UN agency has issued a dismaloutlook for Myanmar, saying an estimated 14.4 million people, or about aquarter of the country's population, will require humanitarian aid such as foodand medical supplies in 2022./.
