Non-governmental organizations and oversees workers have been hit hard by a weakening dollar that has seen the exchange rate of the kyat fall to a 10-year low.
The US dollar fell briefly to 680 kyat earlier this week, down from 750 kyat, according to a report by the exile media group Mizzima.
Thuta Maung Maung, a staff member at the international NGO World Vision, said the decline has dramatically affected local salaries.
“I’ve suffered nearly a 40 percent drop in my salary … and it may be worse next month.”
Currency fluctuations have also impacted donor funds, according to Rose, a Church social worker, who said that funding has dropped as much as 30 percent because of the lower exchange rate.
“It affects not only social workers but also villagers living in areas that benefit from our projects.”
Oversees workers like Margaret Pwint Phyu Hlaing, who works in Dubai, say they can no longer send home as much money in remittances as they did in previous months.
“In the past, I could send as much as [the equivalent of] US$285 home each month,” she said, adding that now she can only send half that amount.
“Our struggle to work abroad to help our families at home is meaningless. If the dollar rate remains low, I will have to go home.”
Myanmar’s official exchange rate with the dollar has been pegged officially at 6 kyat since 1975, though black market rates have fluctuated between 800 and 1,000 kyats to the dollar for the past several years.
This year the kyat has twice strengthened below 700 kyats, according to currency traders in Myanmar.
President Thein Sein addressed the country’s growing economic concerns during a joint meeting of parliament on August 22, saying the economy had experienced a “ripple effect” from instability in the international monetary system.
The previous week, the government announced it would eliminate export taxes and reduce profit taxes by 2 percent, according to the Mizzima report, while a delegation from the International Monetary Fund is expected to visit the country in October to discuss foreign exchange rate reform.
