Myanmar Economic Corporation

Myanmar Economic Corporation
Native name
‹See Tfd›မြန်မာ့စီးပွားရေး ကော်ပိုရေးရှင်း
IndustryConglomerate
FoundedFebruary 1997; 27 years ago (1997-02)
FounderMinistry of Defence (Burma)
Headquarters
Yangon
,
Myanmar
Key people
Nyo Saw, chairman
SubsidiariesInnwa Bank
Websitewww.mecwebsite.com

The Myanmar Economic Corporation (Burmese: မြန်မာ့စီးပွားရေး ကော်ပိုရေးရှင်း; abbreviated MEC) is one of the two major conglomerates and holding companies operated by the Burmese military, the other being the Myanma Economic Holdings Limited. The U.S. Treasury Dept. reports that MEC "is a holding company with businesses in the mining, manufacturing, and telecommunications sectors, as well as companies that supply natural resources to the military, and operate factories producing goods for use by the military."[1][2] As of August 2022, Nyo Saw is the chairman of MEC.[3]

Founded in 1997 by Lt General Tin Hla to establish profitable heavy industries that can provide the Burmese military access to supplies of important materials (e.g. cement and rubber), MEC's operations are shrouded in secrecy.[4] Revenues generated from MEC have strengthened the Burmese military's autonomy from civilian oversight, and has contributed to the military's financial operations in "a wide array of international human rights and humanitarian law violations."[5]

  1. ^ Nunley, Christian: "U.S. sanctions companies that back Myanmar military following coup," March 25, 2021, updated March 26, 2021, CNBC, retrieved March 29, 2021
  2. ^ "Treasury Sanctions Military Holding Companies in Burma," March 25, 2021, U.S. Department of the Treasury, retrieved March 29, 2021
  3. ^ "Myanmar Military's Business Supremo in Spotlight". The Irrawaddy. 2022-08-17. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  4. ^ "Myanmar: The Politics of Economic Reform" (PDF). Asia Report (231). International Crisis Group. 27 July 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).