Contracted foreign investment in Myanmar reaches nearly $50bn

Contracted foreign investment in Myanmar reached nearly 50 billion U.S. dollars with 783 foreign enterprises making the investment in the country as of the end of September this year since 1988, according to latest official statistics published Friday.
Of the 36 countries and regions investing in Myanmar, China ranked the first in terms of value with over 14.45 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 30 percent of the total, followed by Thailand with 10.2 billion U.S. dollars.
According to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, among the 783 foreign enterprises, 73 are from China, 80 are from Thailand, 134 come from Singapore and 85 are from China's Hong Kong as leading enterprises.
Of the total enterprises, eight intend to invest in the power sector, 132 in oil and gas, 392 in manufacturing, 69 in mining, 27 in transport and communication, 57 in hotels and tourist and 28 in real estate.
However, current existing actual foreign investment in Myanmar went to 39 billion U.S. dollars only with 522 enterprises having made the investment as of the same period, the announcement said.
The existing foreign enterprises mainly include 53 from China, 68 from China's Hong Kong, 98 from Singapore and 44 from Thailand.
Of the total existing enterprises, 81 have injected in oil and gas, 7 in power, 303 in manufacturing, 18 in transport and communication, 11 in mining and 42 in hotels and tourism.
Myanmar promulgated a new foreign investment law in November 2012, replacing the over-two-decade-old 1988 similar law and reformed its investment commission in June this year as part of its efforts to draw more foreign investment into the country in line with its reform strategy.