Burma’s Economic Transition: Hopes and Hurdles

In 2011 Burma embarked upon a program of economic reform. Designed to accompany and support the new quasi-civilian government of President Thein Sein formed the same year, these reforms were also motivated to re-position Burma geo-politically. The economic reforms enacted thus far include measures to bring about greater macroeconomic stability, attract foreign investment, and deliver a degree of institutional change. Burma’s reforms are, however, components of a ‘top down’ process that as yet emphasizes state-direction over the assertion of economic rights and freedoms that, in the long-run, must be the true drivers of the country’s renaissance.