Burmese currency touches record high

by Kyaw Kha
Friday, 13 November 2009 20:47

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese currency ‘Kyat’ touched a record high in seven years with the black market exchange rate prevailing below Kyat 1,000 against the US dollar.

Money changers traded their USD at the selling rate of Kyat 990, which is the second highest record after Kyat 900 against the USD in 2001.

But the money changers cautioned that the rate was not yet stable.

“The currency witnessed wild fluctuation with rates changing seven times in a day,” a money changer in Rangoon told Mizzima.

Over the last three days, the exchange rate was about Kyat 1,030 against the USD.

Though the reason behind the sharp rise of the value of Burmese currency is still not clear, economists and observers pointed out that it might be due to trade stagnation, huge inflow of Cyclone Nargis aid money into Burma and seasonal high demand for Burmese currency in the opium harvesting season.

At the same time, the government is trying hard to stabilise the gold price and USD exchange rate.

The government maintained the gold price below Kyat 600,000 per tical (16 gm) though gold price is rising in the world market.

The Minister of Mining Brig. Gen. Ohn Myint warned gold traders at the annual general meeting of gold traders held in October to control price of gold in order to avoid unrest and uncertainty in the nation due to fluctuation of prices.

“The world gold price is also fluctuating wildly and so is the price in our country. But we must control the price in order to avoid fluctuations and panic buying which may lead to collapse of the country,” Brig. Gen. Ohn Myint said.

But observers pointed to the lack of reliable and accurate statistics in this regard.

Foreign Exchange Certificate (FEC) is currently traded at around Kyat 980 against the USD. Despite the Burmese regime setting the equivalent of US dollar and FEC while still using the fixed rate of one US dollar being equal to 6.5 Kyat as the official rate there is more demand for the US dollar than FEC.