BANGKOK – Political turmoil and disruptions following the coup in Myanmar could undo years of progress and double the number of its people living in poverty to nearly half the population, a United Nations report said Friday.
The report by the U.N. Development Program, or UNDP, said 12 million people could fall into dire economic straits as businesses remain shuttered in a standoff between the junta and a mass civil disobedience movement. “The hardest hit will be poor urban populations and the worst affected will be female heads of household," Kanni Wignaraja, the UNDP's assistant secretary-general for the region, told The Associated Press via a Zoom recording.