German companies in Myanmar are scaling down further investments and expansion plans as COVID-19 continues to play out across the country as well as the rest of the world. The Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Myanmar (AHK) recently released its business outlook survey report- AHK World Business Outlook 2020 Results for Myanmar- measuring business confidence and the impact of the coronavirus on German companies in Myanmar.
The majority of German companies in Myanmar expect the economy to recover by next year at the earliest, while 46.7pc in the survey expect an economic recovery in the course of 2020. More than two thirds of the companies see the lack of business support measures as the main challenge to overcome the current economic crisis. The support measures provide a number of very interesting incentives and are certainly perceived as helpful but 75pc of the companies who responded in the survey also suggested that the measures might not be enough to overcome the crises and would hope for more support.
Total trade volumes between Myanmar and Germany surpassed US$820 million in fiscal 2018-19. This year, Myanmar exported a total of US$620 million worth of goods, mainly garments and textiles, to Germany. It imported a total of US$190 million worth of goods, mainly machinery and pharmaceutical products from Germany. Meanwhile, five other German businesses have invested US$34 million worth of investments in Myanmar to-date. The largest investment by a Germany company in Myanmar is Metro Wholesale, which has channeled approximately US$10 million in its retail operations in the country.
Source: Myanmar Times