The arrests for allegedly selling rice for prices between 31 % and 70 % over official Myanmar Rice Federation levels involved 62 suspects, 102 warehouses, 53 supermarkets and superstores, 25 mills, and seven other major cities ‘ outlets, according to the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper.
The violations may provide prison terms of six months to three years in 11 situations, including Kasamatsu’s, and charges and tax payment for the others.
According to a World Bank report released last month, almost a third of Myanmar’s population is impoverished, and the country’s economy is only 10 % more so than it was before the pandemic. More than 3 million people have been driven from their homes as a result of battle, which has created a significant humanitarian crises.
However, the value of Myanmar’s money, the kyat, has sunk and some businesses are struggling with the difference between the standard currency exchange rate set by the central banks of 2, 100 kyat to the money and the more commonly used free market rate of about 4, 500 to the dollar.