Japanese executive among 11 arrested in Myanmar for inflating rice prices (updated)
01/07/2024 04:51
(Adds comment from Aeon, mill owner; paragraphs 9-14)
July 1 (Reuters) - Myanmar arrested four executives of
supermarket chains, including an official of a Japanese joint
venture, for selling rice at inflated prices, state media said
on Monday, as the war-torn country's ruling junta struggles to
stabilise its economy.
The impoverished Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil
since its military deposed an elected civilian government in
February 2021, sparking widespread protests that have morphed
into an nationwide armed resistance.
Authorities said they arrested 11 people, including rice
traders and officials of mills and retailers, accusing them of
inflating prices by 31% to 70% from prescribed levels, the
Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.
In Tokyo, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yoshimasa
Hayashi, said police in Myanmar's commercial capital of Yangon
were questioning a Japanese national.
"The Japanese government intends to continue taking
appropriate steps while urging local authorities for his early
release," he told reporters.
Such efforts include maintaining contact with the Japanese
citizen's employer and offering necessary support, he added.
The junta-run Myanmar newspaper said an executive from
supermarket chain Aeon Orange, a joint venture between Japan's
Aeon Co 8267.T and Yangon-based Creation Myanmar, was among
those arrested.
A junta spokesman did not respond to a telephone call to
seek comment.
An Aeon spokesperson told Reuters that a company employee
had been detained in Myanmar, and it was working with the
Japanese embassy to get more details.
The owner of a rice mill in Myanmar said many businesses in
the sector were struggling because of a mismatch between the
official foreign exchange rate and black market rates governing
most transactions, such as buying imported fuel and fertiliser.
"It is a loss for us to sell the rice at the government's
standard rate," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity as
the issue is a sensitive one.
"Myanmar still has plenty of rice. This situation has
happened because the government wants to restrict the price."
For years, black market rates for Myanmar's kyat currency
have been significantly higher than the central bank's reference
rate of 2,100 to the dollar.
The currency hit a record black market low of about 4,500 to
the dollar in late May, and has since stayed broadly around that
level, three foreign exchange traders said.
Amid escalating violence, poverty in Myanmar is more
widespread than at any time in the last six years and labour
shortages and a depreciating currency have made it harder to do
business, the World Bank has said.
Last month, the junta arrested 35 people, cracking down on
gold and foreign exchange traders and agents selling foreign
real estate, in a bid to prop up the fast-depreciating currency.
(Reporting by Reuters staff and Kiyoshi Takenaka and Rocky
Swift in TOKYO; Writing by Poppy McPherson and Devjyot Ghoshal;
Editing by Michael Perry and Clarence Fernandez)