Reshuffle puts 'right person in right place': government

26 Business THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2013
Job watch
Following publication of Call for Sub-Recipient
Proposal Concept Note for Myanmar NFM under the
HIV and Malaria Grant, published on 18 and 22 July in
Myanmar Times, we would like to point out an error in
the text. Under Malaria, the text should read as follow
“Active diagnosis… increasing the use of long-lasting
insecticidal net (LLIN), notably in the non-artemisinin
resistant area”.
TOKYO
Japanese firms spend record
amounts in Southeast Asia
JAPANESE firms have spent record
amounts scooping up assets
in Southeast Asia this year, part of
a trend that has seen Tokyo moving
to boost its presence in the
fast-growing region and away from
China.
As Japan’s Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe leaves Thursday for a
three-day trip to some of the region’s
biggest economies to tap an
expanding middle class, figures
show Japanese firms have already
this year spend more on mergers
and acquisitions than ever before.
Rising wages in China and a Tokyo-Beijing
territorial dispute that
has infected bilateral trade has
also taken the sheen off the world’s
number-two economy as an investment
destination, analysts say.
Japanese firms have spent a
staggering $8.2 billion on M&A in
Southeast Asia so far in 2013, already
a record with five months to
go and well above the $614 million
at the same point in 2012, data provider
Dealogic said.
The figure easily outstrips the
previous full-year best of $7.6 billion
in 2006, it added.
Two deals helped inflate this
year’s figure: Mitsubishi UFJ’s
$5.6 billion bid earlier this month
for Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya
and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking
Corp.’s agreement to buy a 40 percent
stake in Indonesia’s PT Bank
Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional for
about $1.5 billion.
But Japan also took top spot in
terms of the overall volume of such
regional agreements, followed
closely by Thai and Singaporean
firms, said Dealogic, which counts
deals in its data from the moment
they are announced.
The Thai bank tie-up comes
after Japan’s largest lender said
it had agreed to buy a 20 percent
stake in state-owned VietinBank
for about $743 million, the largestever
foreign investment in Vietnam’s
banking sector.
Toyota has said a new $230 million
plant in Indonesia will start
producing vehicle engines by 2016,
among a string of investments in
Japanese President Shinzo Abe at Thilawa Economic Zone during a visit to Myanmar early this year. Photo: Staff
the region by the world’s biggest
automaker.
“Japanese companies have been
searching for places to invest in
addition to China,” said Toru Nishihama,
economist at Dai-Ichi Life
Research Institute. “This trend is
likely to continue for the next five
to 10 years.”
The ramped-up shopping spree
has come even as the yen has weakened
against the dollar since late
last year – owing to a big-spending
plan by Mr Abe to kickstart the
economy – making overseas deals
relatively more expensive for Japanese
firms.
The 58-year-old premier’s threeday
tour to Malaysia, Singapore
and the Philippines is the latest
of several trips he has made with
business leaders since coming to
power in December that aim to
drum up new deals.
In May, Mr Abe announced a
development aid and loan package
for Myanmar worth hundreds
of millions of dollars. Japan also
agreed to cancel about $1.8 billion
of Myanmar’s debts during a visit
by Abe. He was accompanied by
a 40-strong delegation of bosses
from some of Japan’s top companies.
“The Japanese government is
very proactive about it,” Mr Nishihama
said. “It has become enticing
for Japanese businesses to invest in
Southeast Asia, with governmentaffiliated
financial institutions.”
Tokyo’s shift in focus comes
amid tight diplomatic tensions with
neighbours and key trade partners
South Korea and China, where a
jump in wages has pushed up foreign
firms’ costs and made it a less
appealing place to set up shop.
Relations have been frayed as
Abe mused about watering down
Japan’s apology over wartime aggression
while territorial disputes
also tested nerves.
Last year, a long-running row
with China flared over an island
chain in the East China Sea, setting
off a consumer boycott of Japanese
brands in China, a major export
market.
Hundreds of Japanese firms
also have plants in China, including
major automakers such as
Toyota and Nissan, and the dispute
hurt firms’ view of the country.
Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn last
year warned that the Japanese
automaker – the most dependent
on China among Japan’s big three
– would think twice about investing
more in the country, where it
already has several plants.
“Certainly beyond what we have
decided, before going for further
decisions in China, we will be very
careful in assessing how much of
an impact [the political situation]
has on consumers’ minds,” Nissan’s
top executive told the Financial
Times. – AFP
Corporate India sets sights on Myanmar
MYANMAR is the new battleground
for Indian companies seeking to
wrest business from Chinese firms.
Export-Import Bank of India, the
state-controlled trade financing institution,
has pledged US$800 million
in Myanmar, which includes
funds to upgrade the Yangon-Mandalay
railway and a plant for Tata
Motors to assemble vehicles in the
Southeast Asian nation, executive
director David Rasquinha said.
China, which has beaten Indian
companies in the race to invest in
energy assets from Kazakhstan to
Venezuela, has agreed to lend more
than $2.4 billion in Myanmar.
Exim Bank of India faces an
uneven contest as China Development
Bank, which has a loan book
more than three times the size of the
World Bank, and the Export-Import
Bank of China offer cheap loans to
snare business. The Indian lender
plans to sign credit agreements of as
much as $500 million by next month
to participate in an economy that the
IMF forecasts will expand 7 percent
annually over the next five years.
“We shouldn’t get pessimistic
because competition is there,” Mr
Rasquinha said. “We should be seeing
the size of the pie and fighting
smart.” The lender expects to mirror
some of its African success in Myanmar.
Exim Bank is trying to “excite” Indian
companies to conduct business
in Myanmar, Mr Rasquinha said.
The lender charges a floating 50
basis point over the London interbank
offered rate to a fixed 2pc on
overseas lines of credit.
India in 2010 approved plans by
state-owned ONGC and GAIL India
to invest a combined $1.3 billion in
natural gas projects in Myanmar.
– Bloomberg
The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in Myanmar is inviting qualified candidates
to apply for the following positions:
Sr. Title and level Duty Station Position Deadline
1. Associate Finance Officer-Treasury (LICA 5) Yangon National 29-July-2013
2. M&E Analyst (MCH) (LICA 5) Yangon National 30-July-2013
3. Field Finance Assistant (Roving) (LICA 3) Yangon National 31-July-2013
4. Senior Finance Officer/Deputy Financial Yangon National 4-August-2013
Management Officer (NOC)
5. Administrative Analyst (NOA) Yangon National 4-August-2013
6. Procurement Analyst (NOA) Yangon National 4-August-2013
For details please visit UNOPS website https://gprs.unops.org and click on the post you are interested
in applying for. All applications must be made through UNOPS E-recruitment system.
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