Renminbi has become a legal trading currency in Myanmar's foreign exchange market

　　Recently, the Central Bank of Myanmar issued a notice announcing the addition of RMB and Japanese Yen as legally traded currencies in the foreign exchange market, allowing RMB and Japanese Yen to be legally exchanged in the local foreign exchange market.

　　As early as January 2019, the Central Bank of Myanmar announced the addition of Renminbi and Japanese Yen as official settlement currencies to promote the development of international payment and settlement and border trade.

In this announcement, the Central Bank of Myanmar stated that banks and private currency exchange institutions that hold foreign exchange licenses will be allowed to use RMB and Japanese yen for foreign exchange transactions and legally conduct foreign exchange transactions.

It is understood that the five currencies that Myanmar could legally trade in the foreign exchange market before were the US dollar, the euro, the Singapore dollar, the Thai baht and the Malaysian ringgit, and the number has now increased to seven.

After the implementation of the new policy, people can legally exchange RMB and Japanese yen at banks and exchange points.

In addition to further enhancing the convenience of exchanges between Myanmar people and foreign citizens in Myanmar, this move is also considered to be a policy approach taken by the Myanmar authorities to try to stabilize the exchange rate of the local currency under the double impact of the epidemic and political changes.

The Myanmar authorities take various measures to stabilize exchange rates and prices

　　Under the combined impact of the impact of the epidemic and changes in the political situation in Myanmar, although the Central Bank of Myanmar has repeatedly invested more than US$180 million in the foreign exchange market to stabilize the exchange rate, the overall kyat exchange rate is still in a downward trend.

Since the beginning of September, the local currency of Myanmar has once again fallen sharply. The exchange rate of the U.S. dollar and kyat has risen from 1:1800 at the beginning of the month to a high of around 1:3000.

In September 2020, 1 U.S. dollar can be exchanged for approximately 1,300 kyats.

Affected by severe exchange rate fluctuations, the price of fuel in Myanmar has also risen to 80% in the short term, and grains such as rice have also increased by nearly 40% compared with the beginning of the year.

　　In order to stabilize the exchange rate and protect the prices of commodities, especially people’s livelihood products, the Myanmar authorities have made a combination of amendments to the relevant regulations of the "Foreign Exchange Administration Law", stepped up efforts to crack down on private currency exchange institutions and underground banks, and further tightened the foreign currency policy. Exporters must sell foreign exchange within 30 days.

At the same time, the Myanmar authorities have gradually reduced imports of leisure and entertainment products and banned the import of private vehicles to reduce foreign exchange consumption.

In addition, the Myanmar authorities contacted a number of industry associations to organize affordable sales of food, fuel and other livelihood commodities, paying attention to low-income groups, and stepping up efforts to ensure the production of food, vegetables, edible oil and other civilian assets, and encouraging exports while ensuring domestic supplies.

Under the influence of the above-mentioned policies, the exchange rate of the US dollar kyat, gold price and fuel price, which have been soaring before, have fallen since October, and the US dollar kyat exchange rate has temporarily dropped to around 1:2000.

　　It is worth noting that in September, the six listed companies on the Yangon Exchange traded more than 190,000 shares, with a market value of more than 825 million kyats.

In February, when the political situation changed, the Yangtze Stock Exchange only traded 77388 shares, and the market value of the listed company at that time was only 442 million kyats.

At the same time, real estate transactions in Yangon, Mandalay and other places have begun to pick up. Land and house prices in some areas have risen by 30% to 40% in the past few months.

However, there are also comments that, due to the depreciation of the kyat, people have turned their funds into the real estate market and the stock market in order to hedge, leading to rising asset prices.

The risk of kyat shocks still exists in the future, and real estate and other industries may change again.

The situation of Myanmar's epidemic situation improves or is expected to promote economic recovery

　　The third wave of the outbreak in Myanmar, which began in June, began to break out rapidly in July. In mid-July, the detection and diagnosis rate in Myanmar once exceeded the 40% mark.

With the Myanmar authorities adopting a series of epidemic prevention and control measures and the gradual increase in the COVID-19 vaccination rate, the current rate of COVID-19 detection and diagnosis in Myanmar has dropped to about 8%, and isolation sites in some areas have begun to be closed gradually.

According to data from Myanmar, up to now, more than 12.6 million doses of vaccination have been completed nationwide, and the national vaccination rate is 17.08%.

In order to resume school teaching as soon as possible and ensure the health of students, the health department of Myanmar is planning to vaccinate middle and high school students over 12 years old across the country.

The Myanmar authorities have proposed that the test diagnosis rate should be reduced to below 5% by the end of 2021, and the target of 50% vaccination of the population over 18 years old should be achieved. By mid-2022, the national vaccine coverage rate should reach 70%.

　　In order to help neighboring Myanmar fight the epidemic, in early October, the Chinese government assisted Myanmar to transport the first batch of 1 million doses of a new batch of 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Yangon International Airport.

Since the outbreak, especially the third wave of the outbreak in Myanmar, China has provided Myanmar with 22.6 million doses of vaccines, of which 5.9 million doses were provided free of charge. In addition, China has also made special arrangements for the export of liquid oxygen, oxygen generators and medical supplies. .

　　China has long been Myanmar's largest exporter, and border trade exports to China account for more than half of Myanmar's total exports to China.

Affected by the epidemic, most of China-Myanmar border trade ports, including Mujie-Ruili, have been temporarily closed for several months. The total volume of China-Myanmar border trade this year has fallen sharply year-on-year, and some of Myanmar’s exports to China have been slow.

In order to strengthen the prevention and control of the border epidemic, the border trade port will be restarted as soon as possible. On October 1, the Chinese-aided Muji 105-yard New Crown Treatment Center project was officially launched. The treatment center was converted into four treatment centers on the basis of the original 105-yard warehouse. Each cabin can accommodate 250 beds for a total of 1,000 beds.

On October 9, the Myanmar authorities held an online coordination meeting to strengthen the prevention and control of the epidemic in trade work and promote the development of border trade with China. The Myanmar side once again emphasized that nucleic acid testing and vaccinations should be arranged, so as to do a good job in restarting border trade. Prepare.

(Our newspaper, Yangon, October 16th, by our reporter in Yangon, Lu Cheng)