The Private-Sector Development Committee has announced that it will introduce new measures to curb illegal trade in Myanmar. The committee, which is headed by Vice President U Myint Swe and includes members of the private sector, affirmed during a recent meeting that border smuggling and other black market trading is taking a toll on Myanmar business, and must be curtailed.

Data supports the committee’s arguments: according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Myanmar ranked the lowest on its 2018 Global Illicit Trade Environment Index, reported the Myanmar Times. It is unclear how much tax revenue Myanmar loses to the black market each year, but illegitimate trade, from currency exchange to beer, has been a key part of the Myanmar market for decades. Myanmar’s numerous self-governing ethnic armed groups often provide havens for illicit border trade.

This year, the government has already taken steps to curb the black market. A second Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge opened on the Thai-Burmese border in Myawaddy, a major smuggling hotspot, and both governments vowed to support legitimate trade there. Myanmar also legalized the first money remittance services outside of the banking sector, a blow against a large, longstanding system of illegitimate money transfers. It has also weighed allowing foreign liquor imports, and Chang Beer, an oft smuggled Thai beverage, is now brewed legally in Yangon.