As the currency crisis deepens in Myanmar, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing is calling on people to use less cooking oil, saying Myanmar has to spend more than US$ 600 million every year to import it.
This is what he told a meeting of his economic committee on August 25.
He also said Washington’s sanctions on two Myanmar banks—not the coup he led—are forcing Myanmar into an economic crisis.
Min Aung Hlaing also accused those who hold US dollars and gold of manipulating prices, and stressed the need to correct this, raising concerns that his regime might escalate its crackdown on currency-exchange services and gold dealers.
At the same meeting, the general also blamed the surging price of US dollars, gold, cars, food— and the cost of living in general—on what he called “self-seeking business people.”
He was echoing a junta spokesperson who told an August 22 press conference that unscrupulous business people are responsible for high food prices.
The regime is running out of cash as tax revenues have steeply declined due to the mass boycott of Myanmar, exports have fallen, foreign investors have raced out of the country, and western countries have imposed sanctions.
Meanwhile, Myanmar cannot produce many goods it needs that were previously imported from foreign markets—like cooking oil.
The biggest blow to the junta so far came in June, when the US sanctioned two Myanmar state-owned bank: Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB). Both functioned primarily as foreign-currency exchanges, enabling the conversion of kyats to US dollars and euros, and vice versa.
Making matters worse, Singapore’s United Overseas Bank later restricted all transactions with Myanmar.
Although the regime initially downplayed the US sanctions on the two banks, junta deputy planning minister Maung Maung Win admitted at the August 22 press conference that they were taking a toll on the junta’s foreign-currency expenditures, trade, and infrastructure investment.
In response to a request from Washington, Bangladeshi state-owned Sonali Bank froze the accounts of MTFB and MICB, which together had at least US$ 1.1 million deposited at the bank.
During his trip to Russia in 2022, Min Aung Hlaing claimed that some countries use US dollars to “bully” smaller nations. In a video message to the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security in the Russian capital earlier this month, Min Aung Hlaing went further. He decried the “weaponization of US dollars.”
“Some countries are using the dollar, which is related to financial and security issues, as a weapon in trading the main agro-inputs, including fuel and chemical fertilizers,” he explained.
Min Aung Hlaing has also suggested “replacing the use of the [US] dollar with other currencies, such as the yuan, rupee and ruble” to reduce dependence on the greenback.
On August 14, the junta-controlled Central Bank of Myanmar tried to reduce its dependence on US dollars by allowing Authorized Dealer banks to use Thai baht for international payments and settlements.
A few days later, the regime imposed further restrictions on possession of US dollars, saying citizens can only hold a maximum of US$10,000—acquired by legal means—for six months, warning that anyone holding any amount of US dollars for a longer period would be subject to penalties.
Dr Min Min Thaw, a professor of economics at California State University, said the regime itself is the root cause of the country’s economic problems, including inflation and the depreciation of the kyat.
These problems will persist as long as Myanmar’s generals are in power, she said, warning that hyperinflation awaits.
