By Radio Free Asia
MYANMAR – As Myanmar grapples with a deepening economic crisis, the military junta has launched a sweeping crackdown on the rice market, arresting vendors and shopkeepers in an attempt to rein in escalating food prices.
Authorities have in recent days detained 11 rice vendors, including a Japanese national. The arrests, announced by the junta’s Ministry of Information, targeted seven large-scale rice vendors and four shopkeepers, some associated with popular chains like City Mart and Aeon Orange.
Those arrested face charges of non-cooperation with ministry orders, and possibly up to three years in prison and fines up to 500,000 kyat (US$154).
But the crackdown on the market for the vital staple extends beyond these arrests. Thirty shopping centers and stores have been charged with selling rice above mandated prices, while nearly 60 people have been questioned. The heavy-handed approach has even reached high-level officials and rice mill owners, who face questioning about the rising market prices.
Myanmar’s economy has been on the ropes since a February 2021 coup triggered political and economic upheaval after a decade of tentative reforms.
The World Bank said in a recent report that Myanmar’s economy faced significant challenges and would remain “feeble” as conflict, macroeconomic instability and dislocation constrained production. In the six months to March, goods exports fell by 13% and imports fell by 20% compared with the same period a year earlier, it said.
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