Myanmar central bank tightens forex trading rules

YANGON (Reuters): Myanmar’s central bank has ordered banks and traders to limit foreign exchange transactions to an approved online trading platform, amid a slide in the value of the kyat currency.

The order is part of effort by authorities in the military-ruled country to exert more control over foreign currency flows.

Myanmar’s economy has all but ground to a halt since the military took power in a coup in early 2021.

Banks found negotiating exchange rates outside of the online platform will be fined and risk revocation of their licenses, according to a central bank order, details of which were carried on the website of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Friday.

The official central bank exchange rate was set at 2,900 kyat per dollar on June 22, the same day the order was first issued.

Last August, it weakened the kyat to 2,100 from 1,850 per dollar.

The currency has tended to trade well below that at an unofficial black market rate.

The central bank has previously rolled out measures to shore up the kyat.

Those include a requirement that 65% of foreign exchange earned locally be deposited at licensed banks and exchanged for kyat within one working day, that ministries and local governments must not use foreign currencies for domestic transactions, and that repayments of foreign loans must be deferred. – Reuters