Myanmar is considering a sale of baht-denominated bonds as the country raises funds to help it emerge from five decades of economic isolation, according to Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Thai regulator and Myanmar's officials have been discussing the sale of debt to finance infrastructure projects, Vorapol Socatiyanurak, the SEC's secretary general, said in an interview on Tuesday in Bangkok.
Thailand, Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, is seeking to become a financial hub for smaller countries in the region. The SEC has also approached Cambodia and Vietnam to sell bonds in Thailand, where sovereign issuers aren't required to have a credit rating.
"Most investors are scrambling for an investment opportunity" in Myanmar, Mr Vorapol said. The country's sovereign bonds will offer "attractive investment alternatives for Thai and international investors."
Set Aung, a deputy governor at the Central Bank of Myanmar, and Maung Maung Thein, the country's deputy finance minister, didn't answer calls today to their mobile phones.
A successful bond sale would put Myanmar, Thailand's neighbour to the north, on the trail of the Laotian government, which sold baht-denominated notes for the first time in 2013.