30 June
MYANMAR-Indonesia trade topped US$80.9 million in April, registering a slight increase of $6 million, or 8 per cent, in value compared to the same month in the previous fiscal, according to the latest monthly trade report issued by the Ministry of Commerce.
In the month of April, Myanmar’s exports to Indo-nesia, an ASEAN member state, stood at nearly $6.9 million, while imports were registered at $74.1 million. During the same month in the previous FY, bilateral trade between the countries totalled $74.85 million, with exports worth $10.8 million and imports valued at $63.9 million.
Myanmar’s imports al-ways outperform exports in bilateral trade with Indo-nesia. Compared with last April, the value of exports has decreased slightly by $4 million, or 36 per cent, but imports have increased by $10.1 million, or 15.7 per cent, in April this year.
The two countries trade medicines, paper, palm oil, steel, tobacco, rubber, agro, and marine products.
According to the Com-merce Ministry’s annual statistical report, Myan-mar-Indonesia trade in the 2018 mini-budget period (April-September) was $520 million, an increase of $62 million from the correspond-ing period in the previous year.
Myanmar-Indonesia trade reached a peak of over $1 billion in the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
The bilateral trade was pegged at $827 million in the 2016-2017FY, $741 million in the 2015-2016FY, $636 million in the 2014-2015FY, over $490 million in the 2013-2014FY, $226 million in the 2012-2013FY, and $472 million in the 2011-2012FY.
According to the Direc-torate of Investment and Company Administration, investments of $9.86 mil-lion flowed from Indonesia into Myanmar in the 2017-2018FY, and $0.95 million in the 2018 mini-budget period. There have been no fresh investments from Indonesia as on April in the current 2018-2019 Financial Year.—Swe Nyein
(Translated by Khaing Thanda Lwin)
