On April 1st this year, as the pandemic loomed and threatened Myanmar’s economic growth, the Trade Department under the Ministry of Commerce launched an online licencing system for export and import businesses to facilitate trade, reduce person-to-person contact and prevent corruption.

The system turned out to be a great success according to numbers released this week by the Ministry: 15,362 import/export licences have been issued in 4 months since its inception, with goods worth USD 5.25 billion.