Key Takeaways:
- Myanmar’s military administration hopes to launch a digital currency this year to help with domestic payments and stimulate the economy.
- The country’s shadow government announced in December that tether will be accepted as official currency.
As Myanmar’s military administration begins to accept the truth of the extent and severity of the harm to its economy, it has finally accepted the level of deterioration in the banking sector in recent months. As a result, according to reports, Myanmar may soon have its digital currency.
According to the international organization report, the country’s economy declined by nearly 18% in the fiscal year ending in September 2021. To add to the sector’s rot, the World Bank forecast that by the end of the current fiscal year, which runs until September this year, the economy will have grown by only 1% from its current position.
According to the report released last week, this growth rate is a long cry from the over 30% growth rate that the country’s economy should have experienced last year but didn’t due to the tremendous blows inflicted by the pandemic and military coup crippled it.
However, as the country’s military administration came to terms with this fact, it was revealed that the country would develop its own digital currency to bolster its economy. The country’s deputy information minister, Maj Gen Zaw Min Tun, reported this development.
According to him, the government intends to launch a digital currency this year to facilitate domestic payments and stimulate the economy and evaluate how to proceed.
“We’re unclear whether we should undertake it as a joint venture with local enterprises or as a government-led initiative,” said Zaw Min Tun, the State Administration Council’s chief spokesman. He went on to say that digital currency would aid Myanmar’s financial activity.
The Myanmar military administration’s move to accept a digital currency comes just two months after a party led by supporters of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi acknowledged Tether as an “official currency” in what can only be characterized as a shadow government.
The group’s decision to use Tether was motivated by the necessity to use it in their fund-raising efforts to overthrow the military regime. A World Bank senior economist for Myanmar, Kim Edwards, commented on the new development, saying that it lacked essential planning.
The World Bank, according to Edwards, believes the government is not in the greatest position to pursue such a move since it would necessitate a faultless regulatory structure and high administrative capability, both of which the country now lacks.
Myanmar isn’t the only country considering cryptocurrency initiatives. For example, a bill to establish conditions for digital-currency transactions was accepted for consideration by the Venezuelan National Assembly last month.
