Foreign direct investment in Myanmar has dropped off drastically since coup

Myanmar's foreign direct investment (FDI) has sharply declined since the country’s military seized power nearly five years ago, records and data from the junta’s Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) show. FDI exceeded US $4.87 billion in 2019-2020, the last full fiscal year under the elected government of the National League for Democracy party, but declined to US $3.79 billion in the 2020-21 fiscal year following the coup, according to the records. FDI levels continued to decline over the ensuing fiscal years, falling to US $690m in 2024-25. In the six months that have elapsed so far in the present 2025-26 fiscal year, FDI is less than half that amount, totalling US $248m. This is despite continuing inflows of FDI from Myanmar’s neighbours, with the greatest amounts coming from China, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong and India. However, investments from Japanese and South Korean companies, normally supported by those countries’ government loans, have dried up substantially since the coup, according to Central Bank governor and junta advisor Zaw Oo. “Only the Dala bridge construction project and the remaining large building construction projects remained. When those are under construction or just starting, foreign investments continue. But when loans from those countries' programmes stopped, most companies connected to them couldn’t stay,” he said. Investments from neighbours like China, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia—typically driven more by interest in profit than concern with Myanmar’s internal politics—have continued, and Zaw Oo said they would probably increase after the elections planned for the end of this year. However, an economic analyst who asked not to be named disagreed, saying prospects remained bleak due to domestic instability and changing international economic conditions such as United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs. However, he added, the junta might offer incentives for Chinese or other foreign entities to invest in rare earth and other natural resource sectors, imitating the policies of former dictator Than Shwe. Another analyst predicted that investors will continue to avoid Myanmar amid international sanctions and numerous other risk factors. "To bring risk to normal levels will take several years. It won't happen immediately. No matter how the elections go, there’s political risk,” he said. “No one can guarantee sanctions will be lifted. No country has given or will give guarantees either.” People queuing to buy cheap quality palm oil in Myanmar’s commercial capital, Yangon, in September 2022 (Photo-Myanmar Now) While disorder due to internal conflict makes accurate economic measurements and estimations difficult, the World Bank predicted in June that Myanmar’s domestic product could contract by as much as 2.5 percent over the 2025-2026 fiscal year, especially following the devastative March 2025 earthquake. The poverty rate—which stood at 31 percent in Myanmar as of 2024—was also likely to increase, according to the World Bank.

Foreign direct investment in Myanmar has dropped off drastically since coup

While China and Singapore remain the largest investors in Myanmar, inflows from all countries have declined significantly since the elected National League for Democracy government’s ouster

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