Presidential adviser warns of privatisation-related perils

 

Myanmar has to be well-prepared for some problems it might face in the privatisation process, U Myint, chief of the President’s Economic Advisory Unit, said at a Commerce Ministry seminar on Friday.

“Information and data on what has been privatised, how and why it was done, and outcomes - both successes and failures - are hard to come by,” he said.

“ Frankly speaking, on going through our official newspapers, I know more about what is going on between Brad Pitt and [Angelina] Jolie than what is going on in our privatisation process,” he said.

 “Privatisation is expected to reorient public enterprises towards the consumer. It will force public enterprises to produce goods and services in line with consumer demand and preferences,” said U Myint.

During the seminar, U Myint underscored the importance of transparency in the privatisation process. He said the lack of transparency has led to the general public’s mistrust and dissatisfaction with privatisation. 

He is of the opinion that the privatisation process should be postponed until the general elections are over.

“It involves getting into sensitive political areas and results can be easily hijacked to discredit political opponents. This has already happened in several cases,” he said.

“Myanmar is a poor country. The people are poor. The government is poor. The banking and financial institutions are at a rudimentary stage. There is no stock market. These do not help to mobilise funds.” 

“Like in many other countries, the government does not have the huge sums required to pull this [economic reform] off. It will have to go to the private sector, both at home and abroad,” he said.

The economist said that private firms would come if there was a conducive business climate and reasonable profits could be earned from investments made. On the other hand, the government wants rules and regulatory controls to be in place to protect citizens and ensure they receive benefits that they deserve from the investments made by private businesses.

“What is required is to strike a balance so that the consuming public gets the benefits that they deserve, while the business community and investors (both foreign and local) also earn profits that they consider reasonable for their investments. Such a balance is difficult to attain,” he said.

U Myint added that increasing awareness of issues and experiences with respect to privatisation from countries all over the world, both good or bad, would make a modest contribution to attain balance.