Myanmar and Barter Economy

Myanmar and Barter Economy

During periods of economic difficulty, people in many nations turn to barter. Such is the case in Myanmar (also called Burma). Faced with currency shortage, people in the country have started bartering with one another. Everything from cigarettes, to shampoos, tissues, coffee mix and even sweets are traded as tender due the absence of small denomination notes in circulation.

Bartering has been impelled by the shortage of bank notes in the country: the government has stopped printing smaller bank notes years ago, as the cost to produce them has far exceeded their face value (coins and smaller notes are now virtually non-existent), and even larger bank notes are in short supply. Additionally, the kyat, Myanmar’s currency, has experienced inflation to a point where it is of little worth to the Burmese people. As a result, people turn to barter to get what they need, and use their goods and services as a form of currency.

In Myanmar, you might even find students who have never even seen coins or small notes in their lives. If you enter a shop and ask for change from a purchase, you might receive packets of tissues or sweets rather than coins or smaller currency notes.

In times of economic difficulty, people find creative ways to cope with their situation:

• In the capital of western Rakhine State, Sittwe teashop owners manufacture their own coupons to use as currency. To avoid forgery they use computers to print them with the shop name, denomination and shop owner’s signature.

• There have been reports that in the city of Yangon, items like sachets of coffee mix, small containers of shampoo are given out as change for every 100 kyat (about US $0.10) in value owed. Likewise, single cigarettes, pieces of candy, or tissues packets are tendered for 50 kyat (about US $0.05) in value.

• In some towns, people get smaller denomination notes or coins from beggars in exchange for giving them food.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. People in Myanmar have found that because currency is of little value or simply absent, finding an alternative become imperative. The only way they can get what they need to survive is by trading.

Regardless of the economic situation where one is, barter remains an effective form of getting whatever it is one needs. Money is simply a medium of exchange, and has no intrinsic value. Finding a trade network that works for you helps you find exactly what it is you’re looking for, and provides you with reliable customers to purchase what you have to offer.

Through barter, everyone can find both the things they want AND need, no matter how poor the economic climate.

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