As Myanmar’s currency plummets and inflation soars, the owners of three mobile phone stores in Mandalay have announced salary increases. His generous gesture quickly went viral on Facebook, with his staff cheering the news.
But the military junta that rules Myanmar sees things differently. Soldiers and police arrested shop owner U Pyae Phyo Zaw, closed his three shops and charged him with inciting public disorder under a vaguely worded law that is usually used to Suppress dissent.
Mr Pyae Phyo Zaw is one of at least 10 business owners arrested in recent weeks after news spread online that they were raising wages for workers. A legal expert said raising wages was not banned but business owners were accused of undermining the regime by convincing people that inflation was rising. They both face three years in prison.
Soldiers posted a notice outside a shop owned by Mr Pyae Phyo Zaw, saying the shop was closed for disturbing “the peace and order of the community”.
Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the junta spokesman, declined to answer repeated calls from The New York Times.
“We are very grateful for the raise, but now that the store is closed, I can’t get paid,” said the employee, who requested anonymity to avoid arrest. “Ordinary people like us are suffering from high prices, almost to the point of despair.”
The military’s return to power in a 2021 coup and the ensuing popular revolt against its rule plunged the country into an economic crisis, reversing a decade of progress under quasi-democratic leadership.
The junta faces intense pressure to arm ethnic minority rebels and pro-democracy fighters who control more than half the country and continue to make steady gains on the battlefield, seizing numerous military bases and outposts.
While fighting the insurgents, the army burned down villages and rice fields in Shwebo, Myanmar’s northern “rice bowl”, destroying crops and causing food prices to rise sharply. Rebels have seized key border crossings, disrupting trade with China, India and Thailand.
Across the country, except for the general’s capital Naypyidaw, power is often available for less than four hours a day, limiting manufacturing and spreading misery in places where temperatures regularly reach 100 degrees. At least 250 people died of heatstroke in Mandalay and Magway regions in May, according to the nonprofit ambulance service that transports the dead.
Sean Turnell, an Australian economist and former adviser to the ousted civilian leader, said: “The post-2021 Myanmar economy has emerged from crisis, experienced chaos, and is now a fully functioning developing economy. entity, is certainly close to collapse. He now advises the opposition leadership group, the Government of National Unity.
The World Bank reported in June that Myanmar’s economic output has shrunk by 9% since 2019, and poverty rates have soared to levels not seen in nearly a decade. One-third of the population now lives below the poverty line.
With more than 3 million people fleeing fighting in Myanmar’s remote villages and jungle camps, the workforce has plummeted, with many young men and women fleeing overseas to avoid being drafted into the army. Thousands more abandoned the city to join the Resistance.
Myanmar’s growing isolation has left it starved of foreign currency as Western financial sanctions have severely crippled its economy. The country’s national currency, the kyat, has plummeted to a third of its pre-coup value on the black market.
Mr Turnell said the collapse of the kyat amounted to a “massive” loss of wealth.
He said in a statement issued by the government of national unity that the generals’ economic policy was a “desperate scramble for financial resources to finance their war”. He pointed out that since the coup, the regime has cut funding for health and education, while military spending has surged by 60%.
A report released Wednesday by Tom Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said many of the regime’s weapons come from overseas, with Thailand serving as a major conduit.
Andrews said the junta imported nearly $130 million in weapons and equipment from registered suppliers in Thailand last year, more than double the previous year. He urged Thailand to stop the flow of arms.
The report also accused 16 banks in seven countries of helping Myanmar’s ruling military junta evade Western sanctions. Andrews urged banks to stop facilitating “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
To finance the war, the military government has printed nearly 30 trillion kyats since the coup, about $9.2 billion at the current official exchange rate, causing a sharp devaluation of the currency and pushing up inflation.
To combat inflation, the junta froze prices of staple foods such as rice, meat and cooking oil; restricted purchases of gold and foreign currency; and tried to curb the flow of money overseas.
In recent weeks, authorities have rounded up dozens of people, including rice producers, gold traders and money changers, for violating price and currency restrictions. They also arrested agents who sold apartments in Thailand, a major investment conduit, and buyers who opened bank accounts in Thailand to facilitate purchases.
On Sunday, a junta media outlet announced that 11 more people, including the heads of four major grocery chains and seven major rice producers, had been arrested for charging more than twice the junta-fixed rice price. According to reports, one of those arrested was a senior executive of a Japanese grocery chain.
At a market in Mandalay, a video showed local officials using loudspeakers to announce fixed prices for pork, beef and mutton. She urged customers to report anyone charging too much.
“Arresting shopkeepers because of price increases does not comply with any law,” said human rights lawyer U Kyee Myint. “In Myanmar, the law is in name only, so from a legal perspective, everything the junta is doing is ridiculous.”
For most people, rice is an important part of their diet, and rising prices hit the poor especially hard.
Daw Nge Nge Tun, a woman shopping in Mandalay, said prices at her market have tripled and she can no longer afford decent rice. Now she buys cheap broken rice, usually used as chicken feed.
“I used to be able to buy and eat high-quality rice,” she said. “Think about it, people in Myanmar live like chickens on a farm, waiting to be killed.”
