Burma exempts foreign entities from currency conversion order

Bangkok, Apr 21 (.).- The Central Bank of Burma (Myanmar) has decided to exempt foreign entities, including companies or NGOs, from the order to convert foreign currencies to the local currency announced on April 3.

The exception, dated April 20, includes foreign investments, companies in special economic zones, airlines, foreign diplomatic personnel, airlines and foreign non-governmental organizations, Channel News Asia reported.

The decision comes after various foreign chambers of commerce criticized the order of mandatory conversion of currencies to the local currency, kyat, and warned that the measure would harm the commercial activity and the standard of living of the Burmese people.

In 2016, the democratic government headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi approved an investment law that allowed the use of foreign currencies for various operations in the country.

However, the current military junta, which ousted Suu Kyi and seized power on February 1, 2021, enacted a new law that requires foreign currency accounts and foreign currency earnings to be converted into Burmese kyat within a Laborable day.

The Burmese economy, which from 2011 until the military uprising experienced a period of growth and prosperity as a result of the opening of the country that coincided with a period of incipient democracy, has suffered a severe setback after the military coup.

To try to encourage trade in border areas, the military junta has allowed the legal use in special areas of the Chinese renminbi, the Thai bat and the Indian rupee, which were previously common but illegal in the different border regions.

Burma has been plunged into a deep social, political, economic and humanitarian crisis since the coup that imposed a regime of violent repression of dissent that has exacerbated the armed conflict in the country.