CNI News

13 Jan 2023

As the gap between the rich and the poor has widen in Myanmar, a proper market economy and opportunities should be created, Myanmar economic observers said.

Economic observers pointed out that the middle class in Myanmar has been disappearing and only the rich and the poor have survived.

Although the gap between the rich and the poor has been in existence in Myanmar for a long time, the gap has been widening recently. To deal with the issue, it is necessary to crate job opportunities because the grassroots will be able to lead convenient lives only when better market opportunities can be created, Entrepreneur U Aung Paye Sone told the CNI.

Two women walking in Yangon.

He said, "Frankly speaking, the gap is widening. Workers are staging demonstrations to get raise their basic salaries from MMK 4,800 to 6,000 per day. Workers who have to work eight hours a day are fighting very hard to get MMK 6,000 daily. At the same time, there is a class who can spend MMK 6 million a night. To narrow such a gap, we cannot make the rich poor, we must make the poor rich. What can we do to raise the wages to workers to MMK 10,000 a day. To do so, factories must be able to carry out their daily operations and better market access must be created. Then, better opportunities for workers will emerge."

The impact of the widening gap between the rich and the poor on the society is immense and crimes will be rampant, forcing the outflow of investment from the country, an economic observer told the CNI.
He said, "Our country has failed to build a welfare state, which narrows the gap between the rich and the poor. Every country has to build a welfare state and tries to maximise the number of the middle class, whose spending will increase gradually and narrow the gap. It is not good for the country because a rich man in a grassroots wards is very dangerous. Similarly, the grassroots are getting poorer and poorer because job opportunities cannot be created and crimes have been rampant. As a result, investment and manufacturing projects will leave the country. The people will invest in other countries. It is learnts from news that Myanmar is one of the top-10 countries that buy property in Thailand. Investment has flown out of the country."

Inside the Myanmar Plaza.

Although the government has been granting loans to small and medium business to create jobs for the poor, it is still necessary to encourage the garment industry, which can create job opportunities for the country, entrepreneurs said.

Similarly, the junta is required to take measures to reopen garment factories that have been closed for various reasons, they said.

To attract investment again to the country, it is essential to end the conflicts in the country, according to entrepreneurs and political observers.