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The dollar/kyat exchange rate should remain stable due to the balance between supply and demand of the greenback, according to Mya Than, chairman of Yangon Foreign Exchange Market Committee.

He said daily the Central Bank of Myanmar sells US dollar worth US$0.5-$1 million to ease the high demand. 

“Supply and demand is balanced. The value of dollar against kyat may rise above the permitted trading band in the unofficial market if demand skyrockets. But for now, there is little difference (in the official rate and the black market rate)," he said.  

The central bank allows private banks to trade dollar within a 0.8 per cent band from the reference rate. The reference rate as of February 9 was 1,025 per dollar. It has stood between 1,024-1,025 since the beginning of this year.

 

 

 

Household income nearly half of expenses 

Households in Yangon’s Shwepyitha Township earn monthly income of between Ks100,000 and Ks200,000 while expenditure is at least Ks200,000, according to a survey.

Shwepyitha is a largely working-class township.  

A survey of living costs is being conducted in more than 20,000 households in 108 townships across the country, in order to fix the minimum wage.

That group raised more than 500 questions about the living costs in Shwepyitha Township.

 “In a family of four, three have to go to work, leaving an elder at home. The household income is Ks200,000, barely enough to cover travel fees, rents and other costs. Single-member households find it even more difficult. They have to pay for education and healthcare by selling possessions,” said Tun Wai, who is a member of the team. 

About 70 per cent of people have to sell their possessions to pay for health and education.

 

 

 

Govt to seek backing for power plants

The coal-fired power projects will only continue if the public accepts them, the deputy minister for electrical power Aung Than Oo told Parliament.

MP Myint Soe from Pyawbwe constituency submitted a proposal urging the government to invite foreign investors into the electricity sector to obtain modern technology in coal-fired power projects to prevent pollution and to generate electricity from nuclear technology.

The deputy minister replied that the government had signed 11 memorandums of understanding with foreign and Myanmar companies to develop 11 coal-fired power projects. The government would continue with the projects if residents accepted the proposals and if they could be implemented, he added.

He said that the government had yet to start generating electricity from nuclear power.

 

 

‘Myanmar Times’ to launch daily paper on March 9

The newspaper market will be heated up next month, as the Myanmar Times will launch an English-language daily newspaper – almost exactly 15 years after it started the news weekly in Myanmar. 

Though the government announced in early 2013 that it would lift a ban on private daily publications, the English field remains relatively open. In 2014, Myanmar Consolidated Media, the parent company of The Myanmar Times, was taken over by business entrepreneur Thein Tun. 

The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar is the only locally published daily, while there is also competition from foreign papers, such as the International New York Times and the Straits Times. Eleven Media Group, which plans to launch a joint-venture publication with Thailand's Nation Group, has been denied the license so far. 

“The launch of the daily is a milestone in the history of The Myanmar Times,” said chief executive officer Tony Child. “It is the result of much dedicated work by our staff. It will be an essential read and a valuable contribution to the development of the press in Myanmar.”

The Myanmar Times launched its English weekly in February 2000, and a Myanmar weekly the following year. In 2007 it began publishing a fashion and lifestyle magazine.