Bangkok – A new report on Burma’s tax system says it lacks transparency and accountability, and many taxes are paid to corrupt officials.  Burma rights activists say arbitrary taxation adds another layer to the economic burdens and rights abuses many Burmese suffer. (more…)

Up to 1000 oil workers protesting against alleged duping by an oil company in northwestern Burma last week were attacked by riot police, with two left seriously injured. (more…)

Beijing – China is planning three oil product pipelines in the southwestern border province of Yunnan as it prepares to receive crude oil from its neighbour, Myanmar, local reports said on Thursday. (more…)

Rangoon — Burmese businessman Tay Za’s E-Lite company has been granted a license for an optical fiber broadband network service, called FTTx, which will offer high speed access to Internet, television and telephone communication, according to the company staff. (more…)

A packed train leaves Myanmar’s Taungbyone station. The isolated country could enjoy easy connectivity to India. (more…)

Sydney (Mizzima) – Senior Burmese government officials are salting away assets of all kinds and stashing funds in offshore banks in a sure sign the insiders are beginning to hedge their bets on the ruling military junta’s future, a prominent Australian analyst of the Burmese economy has said. (more…)

New Delhi – State-owned oil companies Indian Oil and Oil India are in talks with the Essar group to pick up 20% stake each in a gas block in Myanmar that is estimated to have even bigger reserves than Reliance Industries’ KG-D6 fields. (more…)

Asia’s middle class “is rapidly increasing its size”, according to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report that analysts have criticised for omitting the issue of mass economic stagnation in Burma. (more…)

Two major Indonesian banks are planning to open offices in Myanmar to help promote bilateral trade relations between Indonesia and Myanmar, the local Flower News quoted the Indonesian Embassy as reporting Monday. (more…)

The first election in 20 years coincides with a rushed privatisation programme. Guess who profits from the fire sale
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Border sources say the ongoing halt of trade across the Thai-Burmese border for more than one month is causing increasing unemployment and economic hardship, and no knows when the border will reopen again. (more…)

Yangon – Four new private banks opened in Myanmar’s new capital of Nay Pyi Taw and start business operation this month, the local weekly Popular News reported Wednesday. (more…)

Taungup: The Burmese military government is now preparing to least 129,000 acres of land in Arakan State to Vietnam for rubber cultivation, according to a report of local journal Hot News published on 13 August, 2010. (more…)

BURMA’S army has evaded Australian government sanctions to obtain radio sets from a Perth manufacturer that allow it to scramble its communications, gaining a new advantage in its wars against domestic rebels and dissidents. (more…)

Yangon – China has pumped $8.17 billion into military-run Myanmar in the current fiscal year, accounting for two thirds its total investment over the past two decades, official data showed on Monday. (more…)

Seoul – A South Korean bank said Friday it would suspend its US dollar remittance service to Myanmar as part of an international crackdown on countries suspected of financing terror. (more…)

Yangon – A new private bank, the Asia Green Development Bank, has opened in Myanmar’s new capital of Nay Pyi Taw for business operation, according to Thursday’s local Biweekly Eleven News. (more…)

Opposition from civic groups, notwithstanding, the Burmese military junta and Chinese investors are forging ahead with the construction of the Salween river dam and hydropower plant in Karenni state. (more…)

Kasikornbank has added a Burmese language option to about 100 ATMs in different provinces to serve the growing number of Burmese living and working in Thailand. (more…)

PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) will sell some of its shares in five gas exploration blocks in Burma to strategic partners in a move to diversify investment risks. (more…)