But conversations with ordinary Myanmar citizens tell a very different tale of continual price rises, rationing and a daily struggle to gather the necessities of life. Apart from rice, which the government keeps in plentiful supply to avoid the prospect of hunger-fuelled dissent, the price of basic commodities has doubled or tripled this year alone, according to aid officials. In the towns and cities, Myanmar citizens endure annual inflation rates as high as 50 percent, the alarming depreciation of the kyat currency and constantly changing rules on rationing of items like gasoline. Ironically, the government's plan to help consumers by distributing rationed staples like cooking oil through the markets has served only to line the pockets of big-time oil merchants. The junta meanwhile insists that the creaking economy is functioning adequately, ignoring the mechanisms like the thriving black market that have emerged to fill the gaps in the official economy.
Foreign observers posted in Yangon remain pessimistic.
In the countryside, people will continue to live like they did in the feudal times. Foreign investment remains extremely weak, and what funds do make their way to Myanmar are centred on speculative sectors like property or tourism, rather than industry or manufacturing. Businesspeople lured by the prospect of rich natural resources lying untapped in Myanmar's energy fields, mines and forests, as well as cheap labour and a solid legal system inherited from the British colonial rulers, have become disenchanted after seeing the economy at close quarters. Investors don't come, because investors want to make money. International sanctions are also a major deterrent to foreign companies investing here, and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund will not consider giving assistance while the current regime is in charge.