Myanmar

Myanmar benefits from the "Everything but Arms" arrangement of GSP for least developed countries (LDC's). With a per-capita income of $ 1.270 in 2022, Myanmar is classified as a lower-middle income country. Since March 2017, Myanmar is part of the European Commission's "enhanced engagement", which further incentivises and facilitates beneficiary country's progress with regard to the 15 core international conventions covered in the GSP regulation. The enhanced engagement includes inter alia a close dialogue between public officials, the presentation of a "list of issues" to which beneficiaries are asked to respond and monitoring missions by the European Commission.

What is the EBA?

The “Everything but Arms”(EBA) scheme is a permanent arrangement covering Least Developed Countries (LDC’s) as classified by the United Nations. This arrangement enables duty-free and quota-free access for all products (7200 products in total) originating in LDC’s except for arms and ammunition. Different from the Standard GSP and GSP+, LDC’s are not excluded from the scheme if they benefit from other preferential arrangements. Within the EBA, the EU has intensified its engagement with three EBA beneficiaries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Myanmar. This enhanced engagement includes a systematic approach to address shortcomings in fundamental human rights and labour standards. The enhanced engagement countries account for about 87.3% of preferential imports from all EBA beneficiaries.

Myanmar flag

At a glance: EBA beneficiaries' preferential imports to the EU

group

54,18 M

Population

account_balance
Parliamentary Republic

Government

trending_up

4.00%

GDP Growth

equalizer

7.80%

Inflation

money

$ 62,26 B

GDP

8 v

Freedomhouse index

5+ -

ITUC Global Rights Index

19.4 v

Environmental Performance Index

Facts about Myanmar's economy

Strategic Location

Myanmar is an economy in South-East Asia, strategically well located in close proximity to major shipping routes in the Indian Ocean.

Export Products

Important export products of Myanmar are petroleum gas, articles of apparel and clothing, footwear, refined copper, tin ores, dried legumes and rice

Trade Partners

Myanmar's most important trading partners are neighbouring China and Thailand, followed by Signapore and the EU. China is by far the most important source of imports (30.6%), and export destination (28.2%).

Economic Structure

Agriculture is the main pillar of Myanmar's economy accounting for about half of the GDP . The cultivation of rice takes up about half of all arable land. The industrial sector remains small and focused mainly on exploitation of gas and the production of cigarettes, textiles, steel, cement.

Gemstone Production

Myanmar is known as the “land of rubies” and is a major producer of not only rubies but also sapphire and jade. About 90% of the world’s rubies originate from Myanmar.

Trade with the EU

Total trade with the EU amounted to €4,649 million in 2022. With a share of 11.4%, the EU is Myanmar's fourth most important trading partner, which is mainly driven by the importance of the European market as an export destination. 19.5% of products from Myanmar go to the European market.

Myanmar and the EU (2022)

Imports from Myanmar by product section

Imports from Myanmar over time (in € m)

MYANMAR AND THE EU’s GSP

Economic Impact

98%

A very large majority of Myanmar's exports to the European market are eligible for EBA preferences.

94.80%

With a preference utilisation rate of almost 95%, Myanmar makes considerable use of EBA preferences.

Preference utilisation and export diversification

Myanmar's imports to the EU

Preference Utilisation vs. total eligible imports

Following the reform of the GSP regulation in 2014, Myanmar’s preference utilisation rate and eligible imports increased substantially. Likewise, overall imports increased considerably in the last decade and grew another 55% between 2016 and 2018 alone. This can be mainly attributed to increases in rice, footwear and apparel exports. Since 2014, Myanmar uses EBA preferences constantly for over 90% of its eligible exports to the EU. The major export sections make good use of the preferential access to the EU market, which is also reflected in Myanmar being amonf the largest EBA beneficiary.

The largest product sections under EBA

Despite increasing exports and preference utilisation, the export sector remains highly concentrated on apparel and clothing exports. This sector accounts for 74% of overall EU imports from Myanmar and 80% of preferential imports suggesting limited export diversification. Nonetheless, in more recent years Myanmar substantially increased exports from a number of smaller sectors, including for example tobacco, leather and plastic articles where exports more than tripled since 2016.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The EU has started the "enhanced engagement" with Myanmar due to concerns with the country's overall adherence to human and labour rights as covered by the 15 core conventions included in the GSP regulation. The unilateral trade preferences under the GSP are conditional on the adherence to and the respect of fundamental human and labour rights as specified in the 15 fundamental conventions included in the GSP regulation. Myanmar has signed or ratified 8 of these fundamental conventions, most recently the ILO Minimum Age Convention in June 2020. The EU’s enhanced engagement predominantly focusses on the human rights related situation in the country. More particularly, the EU urges Myanmar to ensure human rights violators are being held accountable, to strengthen the cooperation with the UN, to improve the situation of internally displaced persons, to address hate speech and discrimination and enhance the freedom of expression. Moreover, related to the serious violence against the Rohingya in some parts of the country, the EU requires Myanmar to ensure full humanitarian access to these areas and to permit refugees a safe, voluntary and dignified return to their places of origin. Labour rights, particularly related to the elimination of forced and child labour is another area of concern and is being addressed by the enhanced engagement both on the practical as well as the legislative level. Until now, Myanmar signals a general readiness to act on the areas of concern. Myanmar has collected evidence to determine individual responsibility related to human rights violations and has enhanced cooperation with the UN and signalled willingness to ratify additional conventions. Progress can also be noted in the area of labour rights as Myanmar ratified an additional ILO convention to tackle child labour more effectively. Nonetheless, challenges remain particularly with regards to the situation of internally displaced persons, humanitarian access and hate speech towards minorities.

Core international conventions on human rights and labour standards

Ratified

  • Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)
  • International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (1976)
  • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1981)
  • Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990)
  • Convention concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour, No 29 (1930)
  • Convention concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, No 87 (1948)
  • Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, No 138 (1973)
  • Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, No 182 (1999)

Not Ratified

  • International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1969)
  • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976)
  • Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987)
  • Convention concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organise and to Bargain Collectively, No 98 (1949)
  • Convention concerning Equal Remuneration of Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, No 100 (1951)
  • Convention concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour, No 105 (1957)
  • Convention concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation, No 111 (1958)

Additional Conventions

  • Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (1973)
  • Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987)
  • Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (1989)
  • Convention on Biological Diversity (1992)
  • The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992)
  • Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000)
  • Stockholm Convention on persistent Organic Pollutants (2001)
  • Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1998)
  • United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961)
  • United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971)
  • United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988)
  • United Nations Convention against Corruption (2004)

EU-Myanmar Bilateral Development Assistance

DG INTPA

Access all info about EU-Myanmar relations on the International Partnerships website: https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/countries/myanmar_en

Opportunities in Myanmar

  • Great potential regarding Myanmar's natural gas and hydropower resources
  • High growth potential over the medium to long term particularly through Myanmar's ASEAN membership and the close cooperation with Japan
  • Strategically located in between major regional markets, including India, Bangladesh, Thailand and China
  • Progress in the development of adequate infrastructure, including the establishment of a number of special economic zones

Contact points