Japanese executive among 11 arrested in Myanmar for inflating prices
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The kyat has been depreciating since Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021 from an elected government, setting off a deadly civil war.
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YANGON – Four executives from supermarket chains in Myanmar, including a Japanese joint-venture official, were arrested for selling rice at inflated prices, state media said on July 1, as the war-torn country’s ruling junta struggles to stabilise a spiralling economy.
The authorities said they arrested 11 people, including rice traders and officials from rice mills and rice retailers, accusing them of inflating prices by 31 per cent to 70 per cent from prescribed levels, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
In Tokyo, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that a Japanese national is being questioned by police in Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon.
“The Japanese government intends to continue taking appropriate steps, including maintaining contact with the company the Japanese citizen works for and offering necessary support, while urging the local authorities for his early release,” he said.
The junta-run Myanmar newspaper said those arrested included an executive from supermarket chain Aeon Orange, a joint venture between Japan’s Aeon and Yangon-based Creation Myanmar.
An Aeon spokesperson told Reuters that a company employee was detained in Myanmar, and it was working with the Japanese embassy to get more details.
The owner of a rice mill in Myanmar said many businesses in the sector were struggling because of a mismatch between the official foreign exchange rate and black market rates governing most transactions, such as buying imported fuel and fertiliser.
“It is a loss for us to sell the rice at the government’s standard rate,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the issue is a sensitive one.
“Myanmar still has plenty of rice. This situation has happened because the government wants to restrict the price.”
For years, black market rates for Myanmar’s kyat currency have been significantly higher than the central bank’s reference rate of 2,100 kyat to the US dollar. The currency hit a record black market low of about 4,500 kyat to the US dollar in late May, and has since stayed broadly around that level, three foreign exchange traders said.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since a February 2021 coup when the military deposed an elected civilian government, sparking widespread protests that have morphed into a nationwide armed resistance.
Amid escalating violence, poverty in Myanmar is more widespread than at any time in the last six years, and labour shortages and a depreciating currency have made it harder to do business, according to the World Bank.
In June, the junta arrested at least 35 people, cracking down on gold and foreign exchange traders and agents selling foreign real estate as part of efforts to stabilise its rapidly depreciating currency. REUTERS
