Thai state-owned firm funds Myanmar military enterprises
Tue, May 25 2021 01:45:04 PM
By Anwesha Bhaumik
Kolkata, May 25 (IANS): Thailands majority state-owned oil and gas company, PTT, is partnering with military-linked companies to expand its engagement in Myanmar, a corporate source in a Burmese hydrocarbon company disclosed to IANS.
This expansion comes on top of the half a billion dollars PTT already pays annually to junta-controlled enterprises through its existing operations in Myanmar s gas fields, the source said on the condition of anonymity.
A 2019 PTT joint venture is paying the military conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) nearly $1 million in annual rent for the construction of a fuel terminal on land seized from farmers.
Myanmar’s crumbling economy runs low on cash
Hours-long queues at cash-short banks have become a daily routine, creating work for black-market brokers
By Thu Thu Aung, Shoon Naing and Antoni Slodkowski / Reuters
If you need cash in Myanmar, you must get up early. Queues start forming outside banks at 4am, where the first 15 or 30 customers are given a plastic token that allows them to enter the bank when it opens at 9:30am and withdraw cash, according to more than a dozen people who spoke to Reuters.
If you do not get a token, you either need to queue for hours for the few functioning cash dispensing machines outside or go to black-market brokers who charge large commissions.
Myanmar cash crisis taking heavy toll
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Hours-long queues at cash-short banks a daily routine, black-market brokers busy
published : 15 May 2021 at 14:11 People queue outside a bank to withdraw cash in Yangon on Thursday. (Reuters Photo)
If you need cash in Myanmar, you have to get up early. Queues start forming outside banks at 4am, where the first 15 or 30 customers are given a plastic token that will allow them to enter the bank when it opens at 9:30 and withdraw cash.
If you don’t get a token, you either have to queue for hours for the few functioning cash dispensing machines outside or go to black-market brokers who charge big commissions, according to more than a dozen people who spoke to Reuters.