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Myanmar
/ Currency
Myanmar's
currency is the Kyat (pronounced "Chud"). There
are bank notes of 1 Kyat, 5 Kyats, 10 Kyats, 15 Kyats, 45 Kyats,
90 Kyats and 200 Kyats. Officially the Kyat is divided up into
100 Pyas. There are Pyas coins, but you will hardly come across
them, as they are practically worthless.
Exchange
The official
exchange rate of the country's currency in the middle of 1994 was
only about 6 Kyat for one US $. But on the black market you
could get exchange rates of up to 120 Kyat per Dollar. Nevertheless,
money transactions on the black market are also in Myanmar illegal.
However,
in the past, owing to the large discrepancy, many tourists chanced
their luck and changed money on the black market. Therefore the
Burmese government introduced compulsive exchange, forcing
every tourist to now exchange a minimum of 300 US $ into socalled
Foreign Exchange Certificates. Unused Foreign Exchange
Certificates can be reconverted into US Dollars.
In order
to avoid payment of touristic services in illegally exchanged
Kyat, which would make the services unrealistically cheap, foreigners
are more-over required to pay for instance hotel bills, flight
tickets and even train tickets in Dollars.
The banks
are usually open from Monday through Friday (except on holidays)
from 10 am to 2 pm.
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