IN AN open-plan office in a nondescript building in central Yangon, women sort through piles of brown folders. Three men try, with little success, to fix a photocopier; others organise piles of kyat, Myanmar’s currency, by denomination. Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), a conglomerate run by the armed forces, has many workers who do very little. Being owned by men with guns has long meant being shielded from competition.
That began to change in 2011 when Thein Sein, then the country’s president, ended the military conglomerates’ tax exemptions and their import monopolies on many goods. He welcomed foreign competitors to some of their businesses. But the army, which ruled from 1962 until March of this year, when the democratically elected National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi took office, retains vast business interests. And it controls three powerful ministries, as well as a quarter of the seats in parliament, meaning it can scupper Miss Suu Kyi’s planned economic reforms, should it choose to.
That Myanmar’s economy needs reform is beyond dispute. Though foreign investment is soaring...Continue reading
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