Myanmar seeks legislation to protect local industries from increased import

Myanmar is seeking legislation to protect the interest of local businesses in wake of increased import this year, an official report said Sunday.

The safeguard law is expected to be enacted during the present government after parliament's approval, Adviser to the Ministry of Commerce Maung Aung was quoted as saying.

Local business people are to be exposed to increased competition when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) begins, he warned in a trade remedy talks.

Pointing out that the process of enacting the anti-dumping and countervailing laws is in progress and requires the approval of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as well as scholarly advice, he voiced hope that these laws can be passed before the country's full accession into the AEC in 2018.

Noting that the level of import continues to go up following the country's economic reform along with trade relaxation and the implementation of AEC, he stressed the importance of laws that allow small and medium enterprises (SME) to call on the government for imposing anti-dumping and countervailing duties and protective measures.

With business leaders also emphasizing the need for the government's support in the areas of financing, technology and ensuring growth of the country's SMEs which are not in a position to face the AEC, Maung Aung believed that if the legislation comes out, the country's production industries will be protected from the impact of increased import that have hurt or threatened local producers and the harmed industries will be restructured through these trade remedy.

According to official statistics, Myanmar continued to suffer a trade deficit of 2.196 billion U.S. dollars in the first five months (April-August) of the 2015-16 fiscal year following the last few fiscal years. Endi