UMFCCI plans survey of business conditions

The survey will also help the government to decide which sector or sectors to promote when the Asean Economic Community takes effect in 2015, the chamber's vice chairman, U Zaw Min Win, told a news conference on December 2.

The executive director of the survey project, U Aung Khin Myint, said he hoped those who participate were careful to provide factual information to help ensure that resulting government strategies and policies were effective.

U Aung Khin Myint acknowledged that businesspeople were often reluctant to reveal details about their business operations because of concern about taxation liabilities.

The survey will begin on December 15 and is expected to take three months, with the results due to be announced in mid-2014.

Survey respondents would be small and medium enterprises and large enterprises in 25 cities throughout Myanmar.

U Tin Than Oo, an economist, said the survey would help to determine how best to support small and medium enterprises.

"Only this survey can help us find ways to develop SMEs for the benefit of the country; if we do this the right way, the project will eventually benefit both Myanmar and the business community," U Tin Than Oo said.

U Zaw Min Win said SMEs comprised about 99 percent of the businesses in the country and facts about their operations were needed to support them effectively.

The survey will be conducted by the UMFCCI and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the project is receiving financial support from the Japanese government, Korean Development Institute (KDI), German Society for International Development (GIZ), the Swiss Agency for Development and the Asia Foundation.

The survey by the federation comes as the World Bank begins gathering information from more than 1300 companies to help identify the main obstacles to growth for small businesses.

In a statement released in Yangon on November 25, the bank said its survey would also identify the main barriers to exports and determine how productivity and labor costs in Myanmar compare to other countries.

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/12/03/umfcci-plans-survey-of-business-conditions/