YGEA raises pure gold price to over K3.56M per tical post-FX liberalization

Following the policy of the Central Bank of Myanmar to liberalize the Foreign Exchange market, the Yangon Gold Entrepreneurs Association (YGEA) hiked up the pure gold price to over K3.56 million per tical (0.578 ounce or 0.016 kilogramme).
On 5 December, the CBM allowed authorized dealers (private banks) to operate forex exchange transactions freely as per the market rate determined by the supply and demand market forces, with no longer setting the reference exchange rate.
Earlier, the YGEA used the interbank transaction rate set by the CBM in calculating the reference price for pure gold. Therefore, the gold reference rate was only K3.2094 million per tical on 6 December.
After the liberalization of the foreign exchange rate regime, the reference price surged to K3,561,900 per tical, indicating a significant increase of K350,000.
Nonetheless, the precious yellow metal was valued at K3.73 million per tical in the unofficial market. There is a price difference of over K160,000 per tical between the YGEA’s reference price and the actual market value.
The US dollar is currently exchanged at approximately K3,560 at the over-the-counter market.
When the Kyat depreciated at K4,000 against the greenback in the forex market, the gold price peaked at K4 million per tical in late August 2023. — NN/EM