SINGAPORE – Bank branches in Myanmar are closed and government employees are boycotting work. Factory workers fled to their rural homes, and foreign companies dumped their employees abroad. The Internet is largely disrupted.
More than two months after the military took power in a coup and launched a deadly campaign to crack down on protests, the economy is collapsing, with the World Bank and others awaiting a double-digit contraction this year. The uprising erases the country’s huge gains in poverty reduction and frightens foreign businesses and tourists who have done much to raise Myanmar in the past decade.
It is already one of the poorest countries in Asia. Six million people live on less than $ 3.20 a day, a poverty line for lower-middle-income countries such as Myanmar. A quarter of the nation’s children are far too young for their age due to inadequate nutrition.
There is a reason for this: For half a century, Myanmar has been ruled by military generals who have adopted disastrous policies. The image has begun to change steadily over the last decade, as a democratic opening has brought a partially civilian government to power and brought in more international investment. To some extent, poverty fell to 24.8% in 2017 from 42.2% in 2010, according to World Bank data. .
The progress of the last decade is now reversed. After the coup, which overthrew an elected government, the World Bank says the number of people living on less than $ 3.20 is expected to increase by 30% in 2021. That is, 1.8 million more poor people in poverty. one year.