YANGON — The Central Bank of Myanmar on Wednesday signed an agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for a grant of up to 5.59 billion yen ($50.3 million) to upgrade the bank’s financial network system.
CBM-NET, the Central Bank’s financial network system, is a centralized, real-time interbank fund and securities settlement system. It was built with a prior grant from JICA in 2013 as part of a project to develop Myanmar’s financial market infrastructure.
JICA said in a press release on Wednesday that there was rising demand for credit from the private sector, an expanding inflow of foreign investment, and a gradual increase in the use of financial services by individuals, resulting in a larger and growing volume of funds and data being handled by financial institutions.
Pointing to the need to improve the efficiency of payment services, speed up transaction processing times and respond to global trends, JICA said the new grant will enable CBM-NET to handle a diverse range of financial transactions and to conform to international standards.
