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New era: Myanmar set to open first stock exchange by October

“Our target date is October 2015 at the latest. But it may be earlier,” he said on Tuesday from the capital Naypyidaw, adding that “no more than five companies” would be listed on the stock exchange to begin with. Myanmar’s central bank signed a joint venture agreement with Japan Exchange Group and Daiwa Institute of Research, the research arm of Daiwa Securities Group, last month to set up and run the Yangon Stock Exchange following years of discussions.

Myanma Economic Bank will own the controlling 51 per cent stake in the Yangon Stock Exchange Joint-Venture Company with the remainder divided between the Japanese partners, the state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Wednesday. The newspaper quoted Maung Maung Thein as saying Myanmar was one of only nine countries in the world, including North Korea and Brunei, without a stock exchange.

“We will be able to exit the list of countries with no stock exchange soon,” he said. Since the end of outright military rule in 2011, Myanmar has moved to liberalise its economy as part of wider reforms aiming to lure international companies as the once cloistered nation seeks to rebuild its economy.

Japanese businesses in particular have been active in the country with strong backing from Tokyo, which has cancelled billions of dollars of debt and offered massive aid grants.
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