Taunggyi Residents Struggle With Inflation Driven By Rising Petrol
By Network Media Group
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
As petrol prices have risen in Burma, so has the cost of food, and traders and consumers in Taunggyi are struggling to make ends meet.
The cost of living has risen after the military regime overthrew the democratic government. The rising cost of fuel has compounded the problem in the Shan State capital, where petrol went up by 100 kyats in the third week of June, causing all other prices to rise as well.
An anonymous vegetable vendor in Taunggyi railway station told NMG that a viss (1.6 kg) of onion, which cost 1,500 kyats (81 cents) last week, now costs 2,000. Rice, cooking oil and all kinds of meat cost more than before.
One woman, who doesn’t want to be named, said that she used to be able to save 2,000 kyats a day, but now she can hardly afford to buy enough food for her family at the market.
“’My husband earns 8,000 kyats a day… I’ve have to spend 5,500 on food for my family,” she said. “There’s nothing left for social activities.”
Since 20 June, a basket of rice (eight cans ) has gone up from 2,500 kyats to 3,000, cooking oil from 7,000 to 8,000, a potato from 800 to 1,300, a viss of pork that used to cost 14,000 now costs 16,000 and the same amount of chicken now costs 9,000 where it used to cost 8,000.
Despite the skyrocketing prices, wages in Burma have remained dismally low.
The increased inflation is also due to the military regime’s control of the hard currency in the country and its delay in paying American dollars for fuel for the Southeast Asian country, as well as the devaluation of the kyat.
