Inflation in Myanmar rose to 7.3 percent in the one year after September 2021 (budget year) after the military coup, and has risen to 9.8 percent in 2022, according to the World Bank.
According to the World Bank’s 2022 Myanmar Economic Monitor, Myanmar’s average inflation rate was 6.4 percent between 2017 and 2019 under the NLD government, and fell to 5.2 percent by 2020 due to lower electricity and food prices.
In January 2021, before the military coup, it fell another 0.7 percent. However, after the military coup, inflation in food and fuel prices rose to 7.3 percent in September 2021 (fiscal year two).
Inflation, which excludes foodstuffs, rose sharply from 0.6 percent in January to 9.8 percent in December due to a significant increase in transportation costs.
The current inflation situation in Myanmar is similar to that of 1988.
An expatriate economist said: “This is exactly what happened in our country in 1988. This is because when the current military council spends more than it earns, the value of the currency falls when it prints more of its own banknotes to cover it. Even if the current banknotes are issued, the impact will be greater in the future. Because in the experience of ’88, the crisis that started in ’86 was at its peak in ’88. As a result, the banknotes have to be reclaimed. “So we can predict that this will happen in the next two or three years.”
An economist said: “The main problem at the moment is that rising costs are driving up the economy as a whole. As the cost goes up, so does the cost of goods. The biggest costs are transportation costs and rising fuel prices. As a result, the prices of goods consumed by the majority of the working class increase because of these costs. As a result, commodity prices have risen. So high inflation is a current problem. Again, we have a unique feature that our financial system is not as smooth as it used to be. Because banking is not smooth, we have to spend more time with each other to get the job done. So with these costs added, there are additional side effects. This is a problem in Burma alone. ”
The coup leader said that after the military coup on February 1, Burma’s economy, He said the security situation had improved accordingly.
