Project Case Study
Governance of Myanmar’s Extractive Industries
First in-depth study of transparency and governance in Myanmar's extractives industry
Myanmar has undergone unprecedented political and economic reform over the past two years, with the country committing to improving economic development, political and economic governance and the re-integration of Myanmar with the global economy.
A critical area in this reform will be the country’s growing natural resources sector, which includes oil, gas, mining and gemstones, which currently account for an estimated 35% of total exports. Although this sector will be pivotal in the reform of the country little is currently know about the reality of how the sector is formally and informally governed and how revenue flows between relevant institutions and actors.
As a result Adam Smith International was funded by the World Bank and DFID in order to conduct an institutional and regulatory assessment of the extractives industries in Myanmar, with the objective of understanding the political economy context in which the sector is situated.
As a recent applicant to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) the report provides an analysis of the various drivers which are set to influence EITI implementation and extractive sector governance in general. The project was produced in collaboration with the Myanmar Development Resources Institute and engaged with the private sector, civil society and government institutions.
The extractive industries sector is still operating within a framework of limited information and relations between government, companies and civil society (and communities in border regions) which are characterised by grievances and disputes about benefit sharing. The report provides a baseline institutional and regulatory assessment of the oil and gas, mining (including jade and gemstones) and the hydropower sectors in Myanmar.
As such the report is an input to the EITI scoping study for Myanmar, but is not exhaustive with respect to all the sectors that may be considered under the scoping study .This report is the first in-depth study of the context within which EITI will be implemented in Myanmar, and will inform broader efforts to improve natural resource governance. This includes support for developing natural resource policy, law and regulations, fiscal regime design, tax administration (including support to the Large Tax Payers Office on the extractive industries sector), licence management and cadastre systems, community development agreements, strategic environmental and social mitigation and management, training needs assessments and capacity building.
