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5 - Inequality in Myanmar: Structural Change, Policy Outcomes and Gender Dimensions
- Edited by Hwok Aun Lee, ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, Christopher Choong, London School of Economics and Political Science
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- Book:
- Inequality and Exclusion in Southeast Asia
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 01 September 2023, pp 133-168
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
Over the past decade, Myanmar has been undertaking political and economic reforms to reintegrate itself to regional and international economic communities. After years of self-isolation and international sanctions, President U Thein Sein, upon his appointment as the head of state, in his inaugural address on 31 March 2011 openly acknowledged the country’s dire situation regarding poverty and unemployment, and initiated an eight-point comprehensive plan for poverty reduction and rural development. U Thein Sein’s government introduced and implemented the Framework of Social and Economic Reforms to initiate short-term liberalization and remedy economic isolation of the past while the succeeding government under State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi adopted the longer-term Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan. Various efforts at economic and political liberalization since 2011 have boosted foreign investment and private sector involvement in the country, further integrating Myanmar’s economy to the ASEAN Economic Community and global markets. These reforms broadly transformed the socialist-oriented state-led economy into a vibrant market economy and generated among the fastest economic growth in the region.
Income inequality is relatively low in Myanmar. Income surveys have been scarce, but the available data generate estimates of relatively lower Gini coefficients than most of its Southeast Asian neighbours. This is not surprising, given its economic structure characterized by agricultural employment and labour-intensive industry; low-income countries around the world similarly tend to register low levels of inequality. In accordance with its developmental needs, Myanmar has focused on poverty and significantly alleviated its incidence, although lack of basic income remains a major challenge. Drawing on multidimensional indicators, we observe substantial inequalities, specifically in health and electrification and in the regional dimension, where disparity between Yangon and other regions persists. Educational attainment and labour participation also impact on inequality, hence we also investigate Myanmar’s developments in these areas, where the gender implications are more pronounced. The country’s efforts to redress gender imbalance in socio-economic development, from education to employment, have achieved significant progress, reflected in the boost to Myanmar’s human development indicators when modified to take into account gender inequality, and in the rapidly growing textiles, clothing and footwear manufacturing sectors that predominantly employ young women. Nonetheless, much remains to be done in promoting gender parity.
6 - Agricultural Exports from Myanmar to China: A Value Chain Analysis of Maize
- Edited by Jayant Menon, Vathana Roth
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- Book:
- Agricultural Trade between China and the Greater Mekong Subregion Countries
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 30 June 2023
- Print publication:
- 21 June 2022, pp 205-255
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
Myanmar shares land borders with China, India, Laos and Thailand. Given this strategic location, the country plays an important role in facilitating trade between China and other Greater Mekong Subregion countries. Myanmar’s trade with China expanded rapidly between the 1990s and the 2010s when the country was still subject to economic sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union. In 1991–93, China’s share of Myanmar’s trade stood at 24.3 per cent compared to 10 per cent each for the United States and the European Union. At that time, Myanmar traded mostly within the ASEAN region, which accounted for 42.3 per cent of Myanmar’s total trade. By 2011–13, China had become Myanmar’s largest trading partner with a 39 per cent share of total trade, while ASEAN’s share had fallen to just under 29 per cent, and the United States and the European Union each had just 3 per cent.
Although Myanmar continued to rely on natural gas as the main export commodity to Thailand and China, the share of agriculture trade with China rose rapidly in the last ten years. Myanmar’s export portfolio with China mainly consists of raw and unprocessed agricultural products such as rice, beans and pulses, fruit and vegetables, maize, rubber and fishery products. About one-fifth of total agricultural exports are transported overland through cross-border trade to China, though a considerable share of this trade is informal. Here, informal trade refers to trade in processed or non-processed goods considered legal exports on the Myanmar side but illicit imports on the China side. This informal trade represents a massive loss of revenue for Myanmar in value-added and employment opportunities along agricultural value chains. The major bottlenecks behind such imbalance are created by the lack of national quality infrastructure at main border checkpoints and the dominance of informal trade highly susceptible to administrative border control measures. Added to this, the prevalence of non-tariff measures (NTMs) on the China side, and the lack of institutions and infrastructure to certify the quality of agricultural produce on the Myanmar side, are the underlying causes of this informal trade and its negative effects on smallholders.