Several business owners in Myanmar have been arrested for giving salary hikes to their employees amid rising inflation in the country. One of the at least 10 arrested business owners is Pya Phyo Zaw, whose three mobile phone shops were shut down by soldiers of the military government after she raised the salaries of her employees. According to a report, she was also accused of inciting public unrest. new York Times.
A board outside one of his shops said it had been closed for “disturbing the peace and order of the community.”
A legal expert pointed out that there is no ban on salary hikes in the country. However, salary hikes are seen as undermining the regime by making people believe that inflation is rising. All of them could potentially face three years in prison.
“We were very grateful for the pay rise, but now the shop is closed and I am not getting paid. Ordinary people like us are suffering from high prices, almost to the point of despair,” said one of Mr Zaw’s employees, who declined to be named.
Critics say this is a desperate attempt to control the narrative around the country’s economic collapse, as inflation is rising in the country. Bangkok Post informed of.
“Arresting shopkeepers for price gouging is not following any law. In Myanmar, the law exists only in name, so from a legal point of view, what the junta is doing is absurd,” said human rights lawyer U Kyi Myint.
It is noteworthy that the military coup in 2021 and the subsequent popular uprising against it have plunged the country into an economic crisis, reversing much of the progress made during a decade of quasi-democratic rule.
Myanmar’s economic output has shrunk by 9 per cent since 2019, and poverty has risen to levels lasting almost a decade, according to a World Bank report. One-third of the population now lives below the poverty line.
“Post 2021, Myanmar’s economy has moved from crisis, through chaos and is now on course for its collapse as a formally functioning, growing entity,” said Australian economist Sean Turnell. anytime.
