Myanmar’s junta has initiated a crackdown on gold and foreign exchange traders, as well as agents selling foreign real estate, in an effort to stabilize the country’s rapidly depreciating currency. Over the past two days, the junta has announced 35 arrests related to these activities.
State media reported that the arrests include five individuals charged with illegally selling condominium units in Thailand and 14 people accused of destabilizing the foreign currency exchange rate. The kyat currency recently hit a record low, plummeting to approximately 4,500 per dollar on the black market, significantly higher than the Myanmar central bank’s reference rate of 2,100 kyat per dollar.
“The government is working towards the stability of the country and the rule of law,” stated the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Tuesday, featuring photographs of over a dozen suspects. The report claimed that security organizations are taking action against businesspeople engaged in speculation to hinder the country’s economic development.
On Monday, the newspaper reported another 21 arrests related to the alleged destabilization of gold prices.
Since a military coup in 2021, Myanmar has been in political and economic turmoil. The coup ended a decade of tentative democracy and economic reform, plunging the already fragile economy deeper into crisis. Foreign investment has dried up, exacerbated by Western sanctions, leading to a significant increase in poverty rates, which nearly doubled from 24.8 percent in 2017 to 49.7 percent in 2023, according to the United Nations Development Programme.
The shadow National Unity Government (NUG), consisting of former lawmakers and other junta opponents, has accused the military government of printing large volumes of currency and ramping up military spending, which they claim has worsened the country’s economic situation.
“We understand that they are continuing to print kyat,” NUG finance minister Tin Tun Naing said at an online press conference on Monday. A junta spokesman did not make any comments.
