In Brief:
- The military leadership wants to create its own digital currency
- Digital currency is intended to help domestic payments and the country’s struggling economy
- Unsure as to working with local companies for the launch, reportedly stated by Min Tun.
According to a report, Major General Zaw Min Tun, Myanmar’s deputy information minister, stated that the military leadership wants to create its own digital currency to “improve financial activities” in the country.
The digital currency is aimed at supporting domestic payments and boosting the country’s struggling economy, the Deputy Information Minister said.
“We are undecided whether we should do it as a joint venture with local companies or by the government alone,” he told reporters.
Myanmar’s junta or government must also revive the country’s economy. It has the lowest GDP per capita in Southeast Asia. Myanmar’s economy might have contracted by 18% in the fiscal year ending September 2021, according to a World Bank report released on January 26.
“We think the country is not in the best position to be able to pursue something like this,” Kim Edwards, the World Bank’s senior economist for Myanmar.
Why suddenly be so bullish on digital currency, while the country’s central bank has already banned Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies?
This could have been inspired by supporters of ousted head of state Aung San Suu Kyi, who was deposed in a February 2021 coup.
The shadow government said in December to recognize USDT, a stablecoin issued by the Hong Kong-based company Tether, as its official currency. The stablecoin is measured at fair value with the US dollar and can be used almost anywhere with an internet connection, making it preferable to cash for a government in exile.
