Bloomberg
A worker holds harvested oil palm fruit for a photograph. Palm Oil producers have been accused of using expired licenses to buy dollars from the Central Bank.
The Ministry of Commerce said it will take actions against several palm oil importers that are buying dollars from the Central Bank using expired licences.
When the increase in the price of dollar occurred during 2015, the state sold dollars to the palm oil and engine oil import companies at the Central Bank’s rate, to enable them to distribute and sell these goods at appropriate prices.
However, some palm oil import companies bought the dollars illegally at the Central Bank exchange rates using expired licences, the Ministry of commerce said.
“When the dollar prices rose, the Central Bank sold dollars to cut the losses of the companies. But some unscrupulous people took advantage of that. Now we are forming a combined team with representatives from the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Home Affairs, the Customs Department and and bank officials to monitor and investigate these matters,”, Dr. Maung Aung, an advisor to the Ministry of Commerce, told Myanmar Business Today.
For this kind of dollar buying, further investigations will be carried out by collaborating with concerned departments, and if anomalies are found, stern actions will be taken against, the Ministry of Commerce warned.