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.