Dollar Loses Luster Against Asia s Top Performing Currency of 2020
Bloomberg 12/23/2020 Khine Lin Kyaw and Chester Yung
(Bloomberg) Zaw Moe Ko was happy that his boss in Myanmar’s commercial center of Yangon pays him in dollars until the pandemic struck. Now he can’t get rid of them fast enough.
Popular Searches
“I feel safer now when I have kyat rather than U.S. dollars,” he said, in what’s become a more widespread vote of confidence in the local currency. “If I only have U.S. notes, it will be hard for me to buy goods in a local market.”
Myanmar s Economy Hit Hard by Second Wave of Covid-19: World Bank
Jakarta: Myanmar’s economy continues to suffer from the covid-19 pandemic, with growth estimated to have slowed sharply to 1.7 percent in FY19/20 from 6.8 percent the previous year, according to the World Bank’s Myanmar Economic Monitor, released on Tuesday.
The pandemic and associated containment measures have weakened consumption and investment, and disrupted businesses’ operations and the supply of labor and inputs. As a result of covid-19, the poverty rate could increase from 22.4 percent in FY2018/19 to 27 percent in FY20/21 and return to pre-crisis level in FY21/22 at the earliest.
YANGON, December 16, 2020 – Myanmar’s economy continues to suffer from the COVID-19 pandemic, with growth estimated to have slowed sharply to 1.7 percent in FY19/20, down from 6.8 percent the previous year. The pandemic and associated containment measures have weakened consumption and investment, and disrupted businesses’ operations and the supply of labor and inputs, according to the World Bank’s
Myanmar Economic Monitor, released today.
As a result of COVID-19, the poverty rate could increase from 22.4 percent in FY2018/19 to 27 percent in FY20/21 and return to pre-crisis level in FY21/22 at the earliest. The first wave already forced many poor households to adopt risky and unsustainable mechanisms to buffer the shock, including reducing their daily food consumption. Even before the second wave hit in late-August, many households were struggling to repay their debts. The ongoing restrictions under the second wave put more households at risk of entering poverty.