Mawlamyine, 24 August
Myanmar military council blamed businessmen and speculators for the skyrocketing prices of basic food items, including rice.
At the 22nd press conference of the military council held on 22 August, the military council blamed the businessmen when reporters repeatedly raised questions about high prices of commodities.
The military council admitted that prices had gone up during their tenure but blamed it on international sanctions as well as speculators and businesses.
A businessman pointed out, “The rise in commodity prices is primarily related to the military council’s inability to control the continued depreciation of the Myanmar currency and trade difficulties”.
Under military regime, the cost of staple foods such as rice increased by at least three to four times, and a bag of Shwe Bo Paw San cost more than 1.5 lakh.
The military council said that committees are being formed to deal with the problem of current high commodity prices and the rising value of foreign currency.
Financial analyst U Tint Lwin, a member of the Representative Committee of the Yangon Region Hluttaw (CRYH), said, “Even though the military council is trying to reduce imports and control export earnings to lower commodity prices, it cannot work.”
On 23 August, a day after the military council announced at a press conference that the rise in commodity prices would be resolved in various ways, traders said that the prices of basic food items, including gold, dollars, and baht, immediately rose.
The skyrocketing commodity prices are mainly related to the military council’s mismanagement and wrong policies, as well as the issuance of new banknotes and the depreciation of the Myanmar currency. Therefore, the businessmen have criticized that just blaming the businessmen will not bring down the price of goods, said the traders.
Amid the skyrocketing price of goods, the poor are struggling to keep up with the imbalance of income and expenditure and are on the brink of starvation.
News – Than Lwin Times
Photo: MOI
Thanlwintimes