Burma Tha Din Business roundup

Total to increase investment in response to increasing human rights violations

French oil giant Total is looking at new investment opportunities following a UN report that human rights violations against the Rohingya minority may constitute crimes against humanity.

“After six years of optimism that human rights in Myanmar would improve, we are now back to seeing the kind of human rights violations which make Myanmar an attractive place for Total to invest in,” said Total head, Patrick Pouyanné. “The establishment of a UN Fact Finding Mission in the Human Rights Council resolution was what finally convinced us that now is the right time.”

Burma Tha Din understands that Total executives were also reassured by the NLD decision not to significantly increase spending on health and education, and continued high military spending.

“The recent use in Kachin and Shan areas of the MIG jets we helped pay for demonstrates the positive contribution our investment has already made to Myanmar,” said Pouyanné. “If the government starts providing healthcare and schools it creates problems for us as we need to fund these things as part of our public relations damage control.”


Carpet bag market stagnating

Carpet bag sellers in Yangon are reporting a slowdown in sales after five years of exponential growth.

“It does appear that we have nearing saturation point in the carpet bag market”, said Maung Tin, a sales assistant at Rag and Jeans, a shop popular with foreign workers in Yangon. “Sales are steady but not rising crazily like they were. It’s still a very big market though, especially compared to five years ago.”

Burma Tha Din understands that some carpet bag merchants have responded to the slowing sales by expanding into other markets, such as prosecco wine and mac book accessories.


Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business to discontinue Pwint Thit Sa?

Rumours are circulating that the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business may discontinue its Pwint Thit Sa/Transparency in Myanmar Enterprise(TiME) reports, owing to the fact that people in Burma now have access to the internet.

An insider told Burma Tha Din, “When it was launched four years ago looking at what companies published on their websites, hardly anyone in Burma had internet access so there was little risk of upsetting any companies. That has changed now so it’s a bit more risky, even though all we do its look at the company website, rather than what the company is actually doing. The last thing we want to do is accidentally expose any wrongdoing by a company or make them look bad.”