The Government implemented market-oriented economic policy in 1988 in order to attract foreign investment and to increase local private sectors participation in the economy. A number of economic reform measures were initiated.

Myanmar Economy can be broadly divided into two sectors namely the productive sector and the services sector. With the objectives of enhancing economic development in Myanmar, the Short-Term Four-Year Plan was implemented from 1992/93 to 1995/96 with the aim of enhancing economic development. It achieved an average annual growth rate of 7.5%. The Second Five-Year Plan had also been formulated and implemented during the years 1996/97 to 2000/01 and achieved an average annual growth rate of 8.5%. The third short-term five-year plan from 2000-2001 to 2005-2006 was targeted with an average annual growth rate of 11.3 per cent. The performance achieved average annual growth rate of 12.8 per cent, an increase 1.83 times.

The largest contribution to GDP is from the Agriculture Sector, it is followed by the Trade, Processing and Manufacturing, Livestock and Fishery Sectors. With regard to the Foreign Trade, total exports as of March 2006 reached to US$ 3,554 million, showing an increase of 17.61% over previous year. Total imports as of March 2006 showed US$ 1,980 million which was 0.35% less than previous year. Total Trade Volume as of March 2006 increased by 6.2% compared to the previous year. The external trade position has improved significantly showing the balance of trade surplus of US$ 763 million in 2002/03, US$ 117 million in 2003/04, US$ 955 million in 2004/2005 and US$ 1574 million in 2005/2006 consecutively. Likewise, the current account balance has also achieved a surplus of US$ 6.7 million in 2002/03 and US$ 7.6 million in 2003/04 respectively. According to the total trade volume, Myanmar's trade with Asian Countries was 94.01% of the total trade volume and 5.99% with rest as of March 2006. The main export items are the agricultural products, marine products, forest products, manufactured products and mineral products. The country's imports consist largely of manufactured goods. Major Trading Partners are South East Asian Countries, Japan, PRC, North America and Eastern Europe. More than 90% of total exports go to the Asian region and round about 90% of total imports come from this region.
Besides, the government also pays emphasis on the development of bilateral trade relations with the five neighboring countries- India, Bangladesh, People's Republic of China, Laos and Thailand- using border trade as a mechanism for trade expansion. Until now, Myanmar has signed border trade agreement with China, India, Bangladesh, Thailand ; and also exchanged a draft agreement with Laos. The total volume of Border Trade in the 2004-2005 fiscal year amounted to about 38777 millions Kyats.
As of September, 2007, the amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to Myanmar reached more than US $ 14733.779 millions with 416 enterprises from 28 Countries. Thailand is the largest foreign investor in Myanmar. Region-wise, ASEAN, EU, Asia are the biggest investors. The biggest sectors of foreign investment in Myanmar are Power, Oil and Gas, Manufacturing, Real Estate, Mining and Hotels and Tourism. Among the foreign investors, Hong Kong is the 5th biggest investor with the total amount of US$504.22 millions. There are altogether (31) enterprises from Hong Kong having foreign investment enterprises in Myanmar.