11/22/22, 4:29 PM
Junta weaponises digital banking transition to starve resistance funding | Frontier Myanmar
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A shop owner advertises the Wave Money mobile banking service. (AFP)
Junta weaponises digital banking transition
to starve resistance funding
OCTOBER 7, 2022
Resistance fighters say ramped-up financial surveillance has made it harder to
fund their struggle, as new central bank rules separate ordinary people and
business owners from their money.
By FRONTIER
Ma Thinzar thought her small business selling imported clothes over Facebook had survived the
military takeover. Those around her were forced to shutter operations amid the economic downturn
that followed the February 2021 coup. However, she had continued to serve a loyal Yangon customer
base, despite a free-falling kyat eating into her margins.
That was until September 19, when the 29-year-old discovered that KBZ Bank had closed her mobile
money account without prior warning.
“It just happened this morning when I tried to transfer money to my supplier in Thailand,” she told
Frontier on the day of the closure. “There was more than four million kyat (US$1,900) in my
account!”
“I’m trying to keep my business afloat despite the skyrocketing cost of dollars, and now this has
happened to me. The bank said the account was closed because it had shown multiple transactions
over recent months, and now they can’t reopen it.”
https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/junta-weaponises-digital-banking-transition-to-starve-resistance-funding/
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