Since its transition from a dictatorship to a
democratic system, Myanmar has been expected to carry out the necessary changes
in order to become a real, efficient country within the international
community. Although the series of reforms launched by the elected President
Thein Sein, the country still included among the worst nations to do business.
This essay explores the main problems that the government has to face if it
wants to create a modern economic system suitable for a global market,
especially if it wants to be reconnected to an international economy. Moreover,
this text tries to depict the errors that can emerge in the case that the
economy policies are the only target that the authorities focus on.
After the World War II, the infrastructures of
Myanmar were devastated, given that one of the longest and most destructive
battles took place in the country, formerly known as Burma. This fact has been
an obstacle, since the military government didn’t carry out real measures to
renew all factors that could create a prosperous atmosphere for developing
solid institutions to look after society welfare. A captious vision of
Communism –it is the military junta– has been proved trough History as a
dangerous element of instability, even injustice for all mankind. We can
remember the wealth acquired by Ceaucescu while people died of famine in the
streets of Romania. His palace was decorated with the most sophisticated
paintings and luxurious carpets from Orient as well as with sumptuous furniture
and chandeliers. Stalin was another example of this misunderstanding of
Communism, or maybe this attempt to gain power by using attractive ideas that
covered doubtful interests. In his chef-oeuvre, The Gulag Archipielago, Solzhenitsyn reveals the reality of those who
expressed any opposition of a supposed people’s regime.
False concepts create false and turbulent
societies and countries. Within an international community, it deters foreign
relations because an unstable country cannot allow other nations to trust them,
particularly when the balance of powers doesn’t exist and capitalism seems to
be the only option for real development. That was the situation in Myanmar for
more than 40 years. Repressive actions of an autarchy regime dominated the
arena; a closed and obscure nation was the best definition for that period of
the “socialist republic” of Myanmar. The unique support that could be available
for the country was the aid of other communist regimes that the country was
surrounded by. China became a good partner for the country. As you can see in
this table, the growth of the trade between China and Myanmar through the years
is significant:
Although this commercial aid, Myanmar’s GDP has
been an enormous challenge for achieving a real state of welfare. After the
transition to a democratic path in 2010, the country is willing to become an
effective economy, even though its policies are proved to be insufficient. The
current President, Thein Sein, has developed a range of measures to connect
Myanmar to the global market by the empowerment of the main economic areas such
as agriculture, construction, and tourism. The World Bank, an organisation whose
aim consists in working for a world free of poverty, has also monitored the
country, giving this overview of the measures implemented by the government: “Since
2011, the government has embarked on an ambitious economic, political and
governance reform program. It has begun a series of reforms to remove economic
distortions, such as floating the currency, new fiscal regulations to
rationalize personal income tax and reduce consumption tax, liberalizing the
telecommunications sector, reforms aimed at developing the private sector and
stimulating direct foreign investments, a review of the financial sector,
promotion of access to finance, and creating an environment conducive to job
creation.”
GDP has therefore grown considerably during the
last past three years. Nevertheless, experts have doubts about the clearness of
the official statistics that the governments provide to the international
analysts. As The Economist stated in its article “Reality Check”,
published on January 4th 2014, even though officially the GDP grew
by 6’5% in 2012, the reliability of these analysis is almost inexistent, for
the “statistical net is so poor that it is almost impossible to know what the
real growth rate is”. Plus, reality doesn’t support this supposed growth:
Myanmar is considered one of the poorest countries in Asia, ranking 149 among
186 nations rated in the 2013 Human Development Report of the United Nations
Development Programme. Since the democratisation of the country, many
observers have been too optimistic about the future of the country. By the
years, all these hopes are crawling up among false mirages. Economy areas such
energy, that was expected to be the main economic resource, are now under
doubts, given that the consummation is low compared to its Asian neighbours.
The same occurs in many other sectors like tourism or construction. Although
the boarders are now opened to visitors and foreign investment, the country is
not succeeding in becoming an attractive destination for all those who want to
pursue an economic activity nor a leisure one.
Economy must be supported by a solid civil
society. Liberalism has shown that it is only possible when a major part of
society is prepared to. Education, democratic and meritocratic values as well
as freedom of speech and other civil rights must be assumed in order to create
a context where Myanmar can show all its potential to the world. If the country
itself is not capable to assume this inescapable task, economy will be subject
to the variations of climate, wars, and internal conflicts. Capitalism without
humanistic values is condemned to defeat. The example of China as one of the
most powerful countries in economic terms must be erase. China is growing monstrously
by damaging all genre of resources that our planet can provide. The US invented
the Fordism, and China adopted the idea without any restrictions. The same
happened with Communism. This mixture of
a growing economy lacking any idea but GDP is a major threat that Myanmar must
avoid. The new government has therefore to restructure not only the democratic
and economic institutions but also the social entities in favour of sustainable
development in all areas.
Reference List:
1. Maung Aung Myoe
(2007) Sino-Myanmar Relations since 1988, Asia Research Institute Working
Paper Series no.86
2. U Myint (2009)
Myanmar Economy, a comparative view, Asia Paper, December 2009
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