Myanmar aims to beat VN stock exchange

THE Yangon Stock Exchange has good prospects and could catch up with Vietnam’s bourse within three years, said Maung Maung Thein, deputy finance minister.

The deputy minister said: “Our conditions are much better than those in Vietnam, which is why Vietnam has taken 15 years to reach the current stage. An economist said people have ages and their actual ages in their minds. Someone may be 20 but they might only have five years’ worth of knowledge. Some people get a PhD when they are 20 so they may have 40 years worth of knowledge.”

“Vietnam’s stock market may be bigger than ours in term of figures. But our experience is not so different. According to economists’ estimations, our stock exchange may catch up with Vietnam’s within three years,” Maung Maung Thein added.

The Myanmar financial authorities plan to launch YSX on December 9. 

Established in 2000, the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange now lists 348 securities, including 308 stocks. The combined market capitalisation is 432 trillion Vietnam dong, approximately US$19.2 billion or Bt688 billion.

Maung Maung Thein said it was expected that at least six or seven companies would join YSX at the start. Myanmar Citizens Bank, Myanmar Thilawa Public Company and First Myanmar Investment were likely to be among the first listings. 

Some companies have been reluctant to join the exchange now, though, pending for further refining of listing rules and regulations. 

Sein Maung, chairman for First Private Bank, said the company was qualified to join YSX.

“But we are considering whether to join or not because the rules are not quite complete,” he said. 

He also expressed concern about the screening commission’s structure, as some members represented the government. 

“We are thinking about pros and cons. We can join it anytime and we’d like to be on the side for awhile and not to rush,” he added.

Companies need to meet 17 criteria, including the minimum Ks500 million registered capital. 

A director at another company said he was worried about speculation. He said that not many people in the country could speculate on share prices, but there would be some. 

The deputy finance minister said that to |boost the exchange’s attraction, lending rates |for companies could be maintained at a high level (to drive companies to raise funds from the exchange). 

There are now fears that the market would draw more investment from the property market, which has been cooling down ahead of the election.