CLMV countries must step up reform of business and financial ecosystems

The CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) are grabbing investor attention following the creation of the CLMV Exposure Index on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), and an audacious plan to list CLMV companies on the Thai bourse.

Thailand announced plans in June this year to create a new master plan to collaborate with the CLMV bloc, in a move aimed at ensuring that the five countries would prosper amid strong global competition. Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak declared that the plan would open opportunities for private companies in the four neighbouring countries to raise funds from Thailand's capital market and to dual-list on the stock markets.

The SET is now preparing to launch a board that lists stocks from its CLMV neighbours. The stock markets of the four less-developed countries are much smaller in size and liquidity than Thailand's, which had the second largest market capitalisation in South-east Asia last December. In contrast, the combined market capitalisation of the CLMV exchanges is just 0.3 per cent of that of the SET.