Myanmar’s accelerating economic collapse is heightening fears of a humanitarian disaster for the Rohingya community in Rakhine State, where food shortages, soaring prices and renewed conflict are converging into what aid workers describe as a “rapidly deteriorating emergency.”

Market assessments from humanitarian agencies and independent analysts show sharp increases in the price of basic staples across the country. The kyat has plunged to record lows, inflation is surging, and the formal economy has been largely overtaken by conflict-driven informal networks. The United Nations has warned that Myanmar’s crisis is “deepening at a pace faster than previously anticipated,” particularly in areas affected by ongoing clashes.

But the impact is most severe in Rakhine State, where the Rohingya – already subjected to years of discrimination, movement restrictions and limited access to livelihoods – face growing risks of hunger and forced displacement as supply routes collapse.

A new wave of fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army (AA) has severed key transport links across northern Rakhine, disrupting the movement of food, fuel and medicine. Traders who once traveled daily between Sittwe, Maungdaw and Buthidaung now make the journey infrequently or not at all, citing insecurity and rising costs due to multiple informal taxes imposed by armed actors.

“The supply chain is collapsing,” one aid worker based in Sittwe told reporters on condition of anonymity. “We’re seeing markets run out of rice........

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