ASEAN countries' investment in Myanmar plunges to zero

　　YANGON, Nov. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Investment in Myanmar from member states of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plunged to zero in the first half of 2002, the latest data of the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development showed.

　　Such a sharp drop of investment from ASEAN, which used to be Myanmar's largest foreign investor, has never been experienced in the past, it was noted.

　　According to official statistics, Myanmar attracted 32.28 million US dollars of contracted foreign investment from ASEAN members in the first six months of last year, of which Thailand represented 25.75 million dollars, Singapore 3.53 million, Malaysia and Indonesia 1.5 million each.

　　Besides the sharp drop of ASEAN investment in Myanmar during the first half of this year, the same happened with investment from other countries and regions with 1.516 million dollars comingfrom China's Hong Kong only.

　　In sharp contrast, Singapore absorbed foreign direct investment(FDI) of 13 billion dollars in 2001, accounting for 65 percent of ASEAN's total FDI of 20 billion, while Myanmar attracted 58.97 million, representing a negligible 0.29 percent of ASEAN's total FDI during the year.

　　The statistics also showed that during the five years since Myanmar joined the ASEAN in July 1997, Myanmar had brought about atotal of 1,169.5 million dollars' contracted foreign investment, of which ASEAN investment was 673.6 million, accounting for 57.59 percent of the total during the period.

　　Since opening up to foreign investment in late 1988, Myanmar had absorbed a total of 7,399 million dollars of contracted foreign investment, of which ASEAN's took up 3,800 million or 51.35 percent.

　　Major ASEAN investors in Myanmar were lined up as Singapore (1,507 million dollars), Thailand (1,289 million), Malaysia (595 million), taking up 20.36 percent, 17.42 percent and 8.04 percent of the total foreign investment, respectively.

　　The sharp fall of ASEAN investment in Myanmar was inseparable from the negative impact of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Sept.11 terrorist incident, the slowing down of global economic growth and the unfavorable domestic investment environment.

　　Meanwhile, on March 1 this year, the Myanmar government introduced a new measure, which restricted foreign investment by stopping issue of import and export permits to Myanmar-based foreign trading companies. Enditem