The earlier months of the second half of 2024 have experienced the unprecedented prices of foreign currencies and gold. The record-breaking depreciation of Myanmar Kyats (MMK) against the foreign currencies, particularly the USD, has aggravated the already worse economic crisis Myanmar people are being faced with.
Commencing from early 2021, the prices of commodities have been highly unstable, and the panic buying caused by unpredictability have made the people buy things at the exorbitant prices with some commodities being sold for double prices while others, for triple prices.
“The prices of the commodities are sky high. As for people like us who are earning daily wages, we have to struggle hard to make ends meet. Keeping an extra amount of money is something we can’t dream of,” said Miss Zin Mar from Shwepyitha township, who is working as a daily wager at a garment factory to Popular News.She made a deep sigh, saying, “I’m earning only Kyats 10,000 per day, and we are five strong with the aged people and a 4th grader. When the school fees and the hostel rent are left aside, we’ve to be rather thrifty to survive.
“Even when we fall sick, we can not visit the clinic, just having to go to the kiosk at the street corner to buy some medicines prescribed by the shopkeeper, who is, in fact, a charlatan.”
July and August have witnessed the peak prices of US dollar and gold, which have caused the prices of the commodities to rise unnaturally with the exchange rate of USD against MMK being 8,000 ànd the gold price reaching a record high 8 million per tickle. As a consequence, the prices of the staple food have risen to a level that forces the people from low stratum to suffer dramatically from the price hike.
The price of edible oil has risen from Ks 7,000 per viss last year to Ks 18,000-20,000 per viss depending on the place whereas the prices of meat and fish have risen from Ks 10,000-15,000 per viss previously to Ks 20,000-25,000 per viss this year.
Just as the prices of meat/fish have increased, those of the
vegetables and green groceries, staple food, kitchen items, personal goods, medicines, and health apparatuses have àlso doubled or tripled.
The rice market is not spared, but the prices of rice are not on the significant rise. The prices range from Kyats 90,000 to 200,000 per 24-pyi bag depending on the quality of the rice, a person from a rice brokerage in the metropolitan city of Yangon told the Popular News.
Although the Rice and Paddy Federation HQ is making an arrangement for the sale of rice on a direct home delivery service, the accessibility to the majority of the consumers is still low.
On the other hand, the supply of petrol and diesel is totally dependent on import, thus being adversely affected by the rise in exchange rate. The instability of exchange rate has a negative impact on the prices of other commodities, according to economists and business analysts.
As known to all, the price hike in petrol and diesel has caused an increase in transportation charges, thereby forcing the merchants and traders to put the extra costs on the prices of the goods they are selling.
“The main problem is that although the prices of gold and the exchange rates of foreign currencies have declined significantly, the prices of the commodities have not decreased proportionately,” said Ma Zin Mar.
