Myanmar is planning to establish an export promotion organisation in a bid to boost the country’s exports, the Ministry of Commerce said.
The new agency, MyanTrade, will prioritise enhancing trade and also study other regional countries to adopt successful policies.
A national export strategy aimed at improving both quantity and quality of the exported goods is being drafted, the ministry said. A law governing value-added export goods as well as an anti-dumping law and a safeguard law are also being drawn up.
Myanmar mostly exports natural gas, agricultural produce, gems, marine and forest products, and imports consumers products, raw materials and heavy machineries.
Myanmar’s trade deficit hit a new high in 2013-14 fiscal year that ended in March at $2.65 billion because of surge in imports following the opening up of the country, the commerce ministry statistics showed.
The total trade volume rose from $18 billion to $25 billion in the last fiscal year, according to the data.
Myanmar’s total exports in 2013-14 amounted to $11.1 billion while the total imports stood at $13.75 billion. Exports in 2012-13 were $8.97 billion while imports were $9.06 billion.
