Arakan News Agency
Myanmar plans to open its doors to foreign insurance companies by granting work permits to 24 companies during the current financial year, according to a local official in the Ministry of Financial Planning.
“The Myanmar government is preparing to lift restrictions on local companies and to grant work permits to other foreigners during the current fiscal year (beginning April 1 each year),” said Than Zan, director of the Financial Planning Department of the ministry.
“The government has already approved the draft market liberalization plan provided by the Ministry of Finance’s Insurance Regulatory Commission,” Zan said.
He pointed to the establishment of a committee led by the Deputy Minister of Finance, to start work on granting work permits to about 24 foreign companies.
Zan said foreign companies – starting work in Myanmar – have already opened offices to represent them in the country.
The Myanmar official did not indicate the date of the licenses, nor the nationalities of the 24 companies.
Three Japanese companies began operating in the economic district of Tilawa, located on the outskirts of the commercial capital Yangon, according to the same source.
In 2013, Myanmar began to de-centralize the insurance market when the state-owned Myanmar Insurance Company granted licenses to 12 private companies to operate, but under restrictions imposed by the regime.
