Title: New Beginnings Through Renewed Partnerships Episode (7)
Date: 28 July 2020, 4:00 P.M
Speaker: U Myo Aung (Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population)
Moderator: Daw Khine Khine Nwe (Joint Secretary General, UMFCCI)
Contact address: pr@umfcci.com.mm
Organizer : UMFCCI
The Chin State Minister for Agriculture, Livestock Breeding, Forestry and Mines U Mang Hen inspected construction works at Lower Laivar Dam, the third dam in the Chin State, on 19 July. Firstly, the dam construction group official of Thiha Min Swe company, which has been carrying out the construction project, explained the stages of the construction of the dam, and the benefits that can bring to the residents. Afterwards, the Chin State Minister and other officials inspected the dam.
By using the budget of K3,038 million, the construction work for Lower Laivar Dam commenced on 1 June 2019. The construction was 100 per cent completed on 30 June 2020. The Lower Laivar Dam is located in Falam Township. The location of the Lower Laivar Dam is about a mile away from the existing Laivar Dam. The area of the earth-fill dam is 2.5 square miles. The height of the dam is 65 feet and the length is 330 feet. The total storage capacity of the dam is 800 acre-feet and the usable capacity is 655 acre-feet.
The first dam of Chin State Chin State Minister inspects construction works at Lower Laivar Dam is the Upper Laivar Dam, the second one is Thiki Dam and the third one is the Lower Laivar Dam.The main objective of the Lower Laivar Dam is to store the water that flows from the catchment areas of the Upper Laivar Dam. The Lower Laivar Dam will be able to supply 300,000 to 800,000 gallons of water per day to about 50,000 residents in Falam Township.
Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar
Local companies with a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) are urged to pay taxes using electronic payment systems made available online starting October. This is to facilitate ongoing efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 by avoiding mass gatherings in public places.
Firms can now pay their taxes through digital services provided by local banks including CB Bank, Ayeyarwaddy Bank, UAB Bank, KBZ Bank and Myanmar Apex Bank, via mobile money transfer and corporate debit cards by the Myanmar Payment Union.
Arrangement will also be made for individual taxpayers to pay their income taxes online. Instead of issuing a tax record book, transactions will be recorded electronically on a mobile app. The government will support mobile payment methods and local financial institutions will make digital and mobile payments available as much as conditions allow.
Source: Myanmar Times
GRAB, the leading everyday app in Southeast Asia, has launched Grab Mart, a new on-demand grocery delivery service. Grab Mart provides consumers convenience in purchasing various consumer goods, including groceries, home essentials, health and beauty items as well as gifts directly from hundreds of shops through the Grab App.The launch of Grab Mart is timely given the growing adoption and reliance on delivery services among people in the country during the ongoing pandemic.
Grab Mart’s store merchant partners now benefit from a new online customer base, increased revenue opportunities, and access to Grab’s technology platform to manage order transactions. Many more local businesses will be brought on-board the Grab platform as Grab Mart store merchant partners in the coming months.
This partnership provides us with an additional channel to reach new customers and provide another service to our existing customers.Consumers will benefit from the promise of home deliveries under one hour.Grab has launched GrabMart across 50 cities in Southeast Asia, in partnership with over 3,000 supermarkets and convenience stores.
Source- The Global New light of Myanmar
Title: New Beginnings Through Renewed Partnerships Episode (5)
Date: 21 July 2020, 4:00 P.M
Speaker: U Win Maw Tun (Deputy Ministry of Education)
Moderator: Dr. Myo Thet (Vice President of UMFCCI)
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Organizer : UMFCCI
The Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) is planning to launch online platform regarding the recommendation for a visa extension of the expatriates in Myanmar. This move aims to reduce opportunities for dishonesty in applying for visa extension, check the lists of the recommended company for visa, get easy access to the data of expatriates and stay period, reduce paperwork, ensure social distancing and facilitate the processing.
The DICA, on behalf of MIC, is planning to launch online system for the recommendation for a visa extension of the foreign director and foreign employee of the companies, and their family members in order to ensure smooth processing at the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population. At present, the online application form is posted on the DICA’s official website. The users can submit a suggestion to the system. Last 7 July, the director-general and deputy director-general of the DICA met with U Nyein Min Oo, CEO of Myanmar Digital IT Solution Co., Ltd regarding drawing software, and the work matters were suggested and explained.
Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar
The Union Tax Law for fiscal 2020-21 will include provisions supportive of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in Myanmar, including incentives aimed at reducing tax burdens as well as simplifying compliance procedures. Some of the provisions under the new tax bill include allowing SMEs to deduct certain expense.
Term and conditions for production sharing contracts in the oil and gas will also be amended to be equitable and attractive for investors. The benefits reaped from the sector will be balanced between investors and the State, while preventive measures against tax losses will be included.The tax carryover period will be extended to five years from the current three. This is a provision that allows taxpayers to carry forward a tax loss to offset against future profits to reduce tax payments for that year.
The various tax rates, reliefs and exemptions will be listed clearly in the law to avoid uncertainties and situations where taxpayers seek loopholes to exploit or avoid paying the full amount of taxes. The new tax law for the coming fiscal year took three years to draft with the assistance of the International Monetary Fund.
Source: Myanmar Times
MYANMAR’S tourism industry is implementing relief plans for recovery of the sector during the post-corona virus era new normal.The State allowed the hotel and motel businesses to apply for the loan in order to remedy those businesses hardly stricken by the pandemic impacts.
The regional directorate submitted reports of the frequency of
hotels, capitals and tax payment conditions and business operation plans during the coronavirus period. The Union of Myanmar Federations of Chamber of Commerce and Industry granted K35 to 60 million loans depending on the situations. In addition to this, plans for training courses for those employees related to the tourism industry, paying an allowance of K4,800 per day, have been undertaken.
The move is aimed to support those stakeholders including three-wheel riders, horse-cart riders, motorboat operators and vendors and to share the basic tourism awareness. The hotels and tourism industry braced a 40-per cent drop in March, 70 per cent in April, and a complete halt in May and June. Some hotels and motels were allowed for reopening in June-end. The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism has been conducting tourism relief plans to restart the industry.
Source:The Global New Light of Myanmar
The plan is underway to implement a hotel zone project. The project is a part of ecotourism development and the hotel zone will be near Shwesettaw pagoda’s precinct in Minbu district.
The environment of forests, mountains and land near Shwesettaw remains intact. Authorities have already granted permission to implement the hotel zone with the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. The relevant departments are coordinating to draw the map.
After drawing the map, they will design the structure of the hotel zone as to where the forest will be, where the lake will be and the hotel will be built on how many acres of land etc.They will get the guidelines from the regional government and invite the investment companies and private entrepreneurs. The ecotourism project will be based in nature, elephant camps, Shwesettaw wildlife sanctuary, the high standard hotels and motels and bamboo houses. It is aimed to attract not only the local travellers but also the foreign travellers.
The Hotel zone to be established coffee farming, organic farming, the custom of local residents, local products and foods can attract the outside visitors. The project is expected to start implementing in February 2021 before the Shwesettaw pagoda festival.
Source:The Global New Light of Myanmar
Myanmar trade is expected to hit US$34.7 billion in the new 2020-21 fiscal year despite the ongoing corona virus pandemic, the Ministry of Commerce said.Exports are forecast to total $16.2 billion, while imports should come in at $18.5 billion, leading to a trade deficit of $2.3 billion.
At those levels,trade in the new year fiscal year is expected to grow by $1.6 billion compared to the forecast $33 billion for the current fiscal year. Up to 85 percent of that volume has already been achieved.
Myanmar risks losing chunks of revenue from markets that dominate trade in certain products. The lack of new cut-make-pack(CMP) orders in the garment manufacturing sector is a concern. Since the start of COVID-19, a shortage of raw materials from China and order cancellations from major buyers like EU which accounts for 70 pc of the country’s garment exports, have led to the collapse of many local factories.But there is still potential for recovery and growth.
Moreover,Myanmar is expected to continue displaying high growth potential in garment manufacturing. Beside the low-cost labor, Myanmar’s proximity to China,its special market privileges granted by EU under the Generalized Scheme of Preference and low logistics and transport costs all “work in Myanmar’s favour.” They expect Myanmar’s growth to be driven by lower value basic garment exports which manufacturers will find more challenging to turn a profit on in Bangladesh and Cambodia, where production costs are comparatively higher.
Source: Myanmar Times