Myanmar's Customs Duties Income Up

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Myanmar's Customs Duties Income Up in Six Months

Xinhua, Rangoon, 29 September 2000.  Myanmar received
465 million U. S. dollars from customs duties in the first six
months of this year, 17.84 percent more than that obtained
in the same period of 1999, according to the latest figures
released by the country's Central Statistical Organization.

The main source of Myanmar's customs duties income comes
from import through normal trade and border trade.

Of the customs duties income obtained in the six-month period,
that from import through normal trade amounted to 427.5 million
dollars, accounting for 91.93 percent of the total, while that from import
through border trade was 37.48 million dollars, representing 8 percent.

Myanmar mainly trades with Singapore, China, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia,
Indonesia and South Korea, having border trade with China, Thailand,
India and Bangladesh.

As over 40 percent of its foreign trade is done with member states of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Myanmar
pursues the ASEAN customs rules, applying significantly
reduced tariff rates with them.

Meanwhile, in order to be in harmony with the market situation,
goods produced by the state sector and those imported have
been valued at market prices since 1997, depicting a departure
from the past practice of pricing such goods based on the official
rate of exchange.

Besides, Myanmar, along with Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, is
also preparing for the implementation of the World Trade Organization
Valuation Agreement.