The World Bank plans to nearly triple its investment in Myanmar, focusing on healthcare, infrastructure and energy, the group’s vice president, East Asia and Pacific region, said yesterday.
Axel van Trotsenburg told Emerging Markets that the World Bank was planning to disburse $2bn in loans to key projects and domestic operations over the three years, expanding its existing $750m domestic credit facility. The final investment could end up being even higher.
“We are strongly committed to helping build out a universal health sector, which will receive at least $400m in financial support,” van Trotsenburg said. “There is also a huge need for investment capital in areas like education, power production and infrastructure.”
Myanmar’s route to prosperity has been, and will remain bumpy, but the country is opening up fast to foreign commercial interests. Telecoms licences are being parcelled out, while nine foreign lenders have secured permits to operate in the country.
Yet it is in the middle of a “triple transition” from military government to democracy, and from conflict to peace, even while seeking to create a thriving, open economy, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said during a recent visit.
Economic growth is expected to hit 8.5% this year and next, according to World Bank estimates. It has the potential to become one of the world’s leading exporters of rice, and a leading supplier of minerals, oil, and natural gas.