Myanmar Data and Chart

Myanmar's governance and fragility indicators show that conditions improved markedly when the military junta allowed greater civilian participation in running the country but conditions deteriorated rapidly under direct military rule. Mirror trade data reported to the IMF show that Myanmar's reported imports data are significantly understated compared to what the world reported as having exported to the country. The implication is that the actual current account deficits are much larger than what were officially reported by Myanmar. Given that current account deficits need to be financed, we look at all possible source of financing and conclude that the massive deficits could only have been financed through illicit funds held by the private sector in tax havens and in onshore developed country banks. Myanmar did not and does not have the capacity to attract FDI and external loans (public or private) to finance the implied current account deficits. The only way unrecorded imports could have been financed on such a scale was using illicit funds held in external accounts. And the only way these external accounts can be replenished is through the sale of smuggled goods like timber, precious stones, drugs, and other contraband items and depositing the proceeds in illegal external accounts.