Myanmar's Cycle of Debt

A look at the slums of Yangon and how families are crippled by high-interest loans as others profit from their despair.

With its gleaming new shopping malls and high-rise apartment blocks, Yangon has become the symbol of Myanmar's rapid economic growth. Yet in its poorest neighbourhoods, 85 percent of households are borrowing money from loan sharks, just to cover their basic living expenses.

While the loans may rescue them from an immediate financial emergency, the interest rates - which range from five percent daily to 60 percent monthly - trap borrowers in a perpetual cycle of debt. As families struggle to make their repayments, many send their children out to work.