Title Financing Small and Medium Enterprises in Myanmar Author(s ...

enterprises and the cooperatives.
After taking over national power in 1988, the State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC) 22 officially declared the adoption of market-oriented economic system.
In line with the market economy, the government encouraged private-sector
participation in the economy and permitted foreign investment in the country. The
Private Industrial Enterprises Law of 1990 and the Promotion of Cottage Industrial
Law of 1991 were promulgated in order to boost private business enterprises.
The Myanmar Citizen Investment Law was enacted in March 1994 to promote
indigenous businesses. In an effort to establish the national industrial sector through
the three pillars systems—the state sector, the local private sector, and foreign
investment— the national entrepreneurs were regarded as the new economic forces 23 .
Industrial zones have been established since 1991, in accordance with the state policies
of industrialization. Also, the private sector was encouraged to set up
import-substitution industries. As a result, the number of private business
establishments was drastically increased.
In order to encourage coordination among businesses in the private sector, the
Union of Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry was formed in January 1989. It
was restructured and upgraded as the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) in 1999. The UMFCCI become a focal point of
private business interests and by 2007, its memberships reached a total of 16,363,
consisting of 10,854 Myanmar companies, 1,656 enterprises, 770 foreign companies, 185
cooperatives, and 2,898 individual members. 24 The institutional members included 16
state/division chambers of commerce and industries, nine border trade associations, and
19 other associations 25 .
Today, SMEs represent the majority portion of businesses in the private sector of
Myanmar. They dominate most of the country’s economic activities. They account for 90
percent of the industrial sector and 99 percent of the manufacturing sector 26 .
22 It was renamed and reestablished as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) on 15
November 1997)
23 Theimm Htut, To exert all-out efforts for industrial development, NLM, Sunday Supplement, 5
September, 1999
24 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Myanmar_Fedreation_of_Commerce_and_Industry
25 Tin Maung Maung Than, State Dominance in Myanmar, The Political Economy of Industrialization,
2007 p. 390
26 Said by U Zaw Min Win, vice president of the Myanmar Industries Association, The Myanmar Times
news, April 25-May 1, 2005