Store owners in Myanmar are being arrested for giving their employees raises. Here’s why

Several business owners in Mynamnar have been arrested for giving their employees a raise amid the country’s rising inflation. One of at least 10 businessmen detained is Pyae Phyo Zaw, whose three mobile phone stores were closed by military government soldiers and he increased the wages of his workers. He was also accused of inciting public unrest, according to a report from New York Times.

A sign posted in front of one of his stores declared that it was closed for “disturbing the peace and order of the community.”

A jurist explained that there is no prohibition on salary increases in the country. However, wage increases are seen as undermining the regime, making people believe that inflation is rising. They all face potentially three years in prison.

One of Mr Zaw’s employees said anonymously: “We were very grateful for the pay rise, but now the store is closed and I’m not getting paid. Ordinary people like us are suffering from high prices, almost to the point of despair.”

Critics have claimed that this is a desperate attempt to control the narrative surrounding the country’s economic collapse as it experiences rising inflation, the Bangkok Post Office reported.

“Arresting store owners because of price increases is not following any law. In Myanmar, the law exists in name only, so from a legal point of view, everything the junta is doing is absurd,” said human rights lawyer U Kyee Myint.

Namely, the seizure of power by the military in a coup d’état in 2021 and the subsequent popular revolt against its authority plunged the country into an economic crisis, reversing the progress achieved during a decade of quasi-democratic governance.

According to a World Bank Report, Myanmar’s economic output has declined by 9 percent since 2019 and poverty has soared to levels not seen in nearly a decade. A third of the population now lives below the poverty line.

“Myanmar’s post-2021 economy has emerged from the crisis, gone through chaos and now reached what is certainly its near collapse as a formally functional and developing entity,” Australian economist Sean Turnell told NY Times.