Being closed down for the rest of the world for many years, Myanmar has remained completely isolated from the international capital markets. The country currently faces an expanding current account deficit. In order to resolve this situation Myanmar will need to borrow money and for that it needs to have a credit rating from internationally recognized agencies like Fitch, Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s. This rating is used as the most important tool to asses a country’s ability to repay the debt. Currently Myanmar has not been issued a rating by any of the agencies. Once Myanmar gets a rating it will be able to issue its first ever international bond.

Citigroup Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc. have come forward to help the country by offering their expert advice. Both the banks will be given a formal mandate from the government of Myanmar to provide their advice on the important steps to take in order to earn credit rating. Myanmar owed a significant amount in debts to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. These debts were responsible for the international financial institutions shying away from offering new loans. In the year 2013, Myanmar managed to clear all its arrears and also secured a big debt write-off by creditor countries grouped in the Paris Club.  This cleared the way aid donors to start helping out and supporting this Southeast Asian nation in bringing out the reforms its government is trying to for.