Analysis on Internatinal Trade of Myanmar (1998 - 2007)

Since its participation in AFTA, Myanmar’s trade volumes have being grown rapidly while its trade patterns and directions have significantly changed. Recognizing the importance of international trade in Myanmar economies, this study attempts to analyze the trade patterns of Myanmar based the gravity model. The empirical analysis is conducted to identify the determining factors of each country’s bilateral trade flows and policy implications for promoting their trade. The results indicate that Myanmar trades are mainly affected by partner country’s GDP, the difference between per capita GDPs of two countries, distance, common border, and presence in particular FTA. Their trade relations with East Asian countries mainly China, Japan and Korea have yet to be exploited to their full potential. These findings suggest that Myanmar needs to promote its bilateral trade with countries in close proximity and having large economic size and high consumers’ purchasing power through accelerating its trade liberalization efforts in FTAs in progress