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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 moreover 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.
This page: http://www.cockatoo.com/english/myanmar/myanmar_currency.htm
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