Aung, a 31-year-old from the government-controlled Bago region who once worked at a state-owned bank, now sends 3,000 to 5,000 baht (US$90–US$150) to his mother and sister each month through a village agent.
His transfers travel through the hundi system, Myanmar’s informal money-transfer network, which relies on kinship, trust and community ties. Village-level agents can get money to remote hamlets within a day or two.
For people who left Myanmar after the 2021 coup, the system has become a practical route around official financial channels. Exiles fled war, a broken economy and forced conscription, with many moving to Thailand.
As many as 4.6 million Myanmar nationals were living in Thailand as of September last year, according to the International Organization for Migration. Many work in factories, construction, farms and homes.
The choice of how to send money has acquired greater importance as Myanmar’s economy has deteriorated. The kyat has lost about three-quarters of its value against the US dollar since the coup, while inflation spiked to nearly 25 per cent in June, according to the World Bank.
Foreign direct investment barely topped US$1 billion last year, by Myanmar state media’s own admission. A decade ago, remittances were estimated to account for as much as 13 per cent of Myanmar’s gross domestic product.
At Thailand’s border towns, including Mae Sot and Mae Sai, hundi agents collect small sums of baht from migrants and pool them to pay Thai exporters directly for goods.
The network moves funds through trusted agents and currency exchanges, with fees typically ranging from 2 to 2.5 percent. It can offer exchange rates twice as favourable as the official rate of about 2,100 kyat to the US dollar.
In 2024, the military government ordered migrant workers to send at least 25 per cent of their earnings home through Myanmar’s official banking channels. Those who do not comply can face travel bans and passport confiscation.
The rules have not displaced informal transfers. A 2024 International Organization for Migration survey found that 93 percent of Myanmar remitters in Thailand used informal channels, and 60 percent used hundi brokers.
About 68 percent of Myanmar’s informal remittances come from Thailand.
The military government has called hundi illegal and presented its crackdown as an effort to combat money laundering. It has not clearly explained how the risks of money laundering changed after the coup, or why a system previously accepted is no longer accepted.
The crackdown is intended to push individuals and businesses into state-controlled financial systems, allowing the military government to control and dominate foreign-currency flows.
For migrants such as Aung, the contest over financial control reaches into household budgets. His monthly transfer is part of a flow from Thailand that continues to reach families through agents operating beyond the official banking system.
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