Myanmar has confirmed it will start accepting the Thai baht currency for settling border trade transactions and is also looking at a similar plan to use the Indian rupee for such trade.
Myanmar’s government has already said it would also accept China’s renminbi as an official settlement currency.
Officials said the arrangements would also help support economic recovery, adding that – even with rising energy prices – Myanmar should record “modest” gross domestic product growth in the fiscal year ending October 2022.
Last year, the Central Bank of Myanmar briefly tried tethering the kyat currency to a reference rate against the dollar after a slump in the exchange rate.
Registered merchants along the Thai border with Myanmar could from this month conduct trade based on the kyat-baht exchange rate announced daily by Myanmar’s central bank.
Thai Deputy Government Spokesperson Ratchada Thanadirek said the government was not involved in the arrangements, but noted that “usage of baht-kyat is something that two sides have been discussing… and matched demand from the Thai private sector.”
However, Sobkasem Ngaemngam of the Tak province chapter of the Federation of Thai Industries, said the move was unlikely to change much since businesses on both sides of the border had been using baht in trade for decades.
Thailand is Myanmar’s second biggest trading partner behind China. Trade in the 2020-2021 fiscal year was worth $5.3 billion, the statement said.
Myanmar said its main exports included gas, metals, pulses and garments, adding that the country mainly imported machinery, transport equipment and manufactured goods from Thailand. (NNT)
 |
 |
 |
