Lately it feels like the whole country is holding its breath. Everything is delayed. The second international airport? Delayed. Taxes? Delayed.
Now the launch of the Yangon Stock Exchange, the country’s first bourse, has been pushed back until the first week of December, according to the Myanmar Times.
It was originally supposed to open in October but was rescheduled to an unspecified date on account of the November 8 elections last month.
A total of 57 companies have applied for licenses as underwriters, brokers, dealers and advisers, the Times reported.
Applicants – which must be local public companies and are required to show proof that they’ve paid taxes for the past five years – include local banks KBZ and AYA Bank.
The winners will be announced next month.
On Saturday, deputy finance minister Maung Maung Thein led journalists around the building that will house the exchange, the former Central Bank on Sule Pagoda Road.
He pointed to a hefty copper bell, “the symbol of our Yangon Stock Exchange”, set to chime at opening and closing of the markets.
Like much else in Myanmar, that bell looks set to stay hanging there, waiting out the next few months.
Photo / Wikicommons
