The Asia Foundation initiated the first ever Myanmar Business Environment Index (MBEI) in 2018, surveying 4,874 Myanmar businesses in the service and manufacturing industries across the country and gathering a multitude of other hard data to map a more comprehensive, in-depth picture of the challenges they face and where government can target reforms to improve the business environment. The results were published in 2019 and were widely disseminated to government officials and the private sector in all states and regions of Myanmar. In 2020, the Foundation carried out the second installment of the MBEI, surveying 5,605 businesses across the country. Conducting the two installments two years apart allows us to begin to track the progress states and regions have made over time. MBEI 2020 also includes methodological improvements over the first MBEI, with new indicators to provide more concrete measures of aspects of the business environment relevant to state, region, and township officials and decision-makers.
The Economic Governance Index (EGI) is a tool that has become widely accepted by governments to understand economic growth, attract investors, and engage in public-private sector dialogue. The Myanmar Business Environment Index (MBEI) follows in this tradition by adapting the EGI model to the Myanmar context. The MBEI is designed to provide Union and state/region government leaders, as well as stakeholders such as business managers, with a tool to understand and address the challenges Myanmar businesses face, and thereby encourage sustainable and inclusive economic growth.