A ten-fold increase of Burmese government workers’ salaries at the end of April looks set to further exacerbate the country’s already high inflation.

Burma’s national currency, the kyat, dropped from 1,250 to the dollar on Monday to an all-time low black market rate of 1,400 on Thursday. The price of gold also shot up from 380,000 kyat ($270) per tical of 24-carat gold to 420,000 ($300.)

Meanwhile, a gallon of diesel on the black market went up to 3,800 kyats ($2.50) from 3600 kyats, affecting other prices as transportation costs increased. The price of commodities such as rice, cooking oil and other food increased over 10 percent since the salary increase was announced last Sunday.

Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, addressing reporters in the new administrative capital of Pyinmana on Sunday, said the wage increase would go into effect from April 31, the start of the new fiscal year.

Burma’s state-controlled media has yet to make any official comment on the salary hike. Instead, reports today indicated that Rangoon’s Mayor Brig-Gen Aung Thein Linn had discussed price-control measures with officials from various bodies including the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Myanmar Rice Dealers Association, Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association, Myanmar Livestock Breeding Federation, and Myanmar Goldsmith Association.

So far, no privately owned publications-which are subject to rigorous scrutiny by Burma’s notorious censorship committee-have not been permitted to cover the price increases.

“These days, the government even censors updates on the market price for rice,” a Rangoon-based business editor told The Irrawaddy.

A Rangoon economist claimed that the government would need about 100 billion kyat ($71,500,000) to implement the wage hike. “We’re expecting the regime to increase revenue by raising taxes and printing more money,” he said.

Last September, the government increased tax on utilities such as electricity and water, and even the cover price of newspapers.

A recently published review by the Economist Intelligence Unit-a division of The Economist magazine-forecasted that the Burmese junta would continue to monetize the budget deficit and, in an attempt to contain inflation, is likely “to implement ad hoc, ill-devised remedies, such as imposing controls on the price and sale of important commodities.” The review also warned that such measures “could stoke popular unrest.”