Practical travel information on Money and costs in Myanmar/burma

Money & costs

Money

Money

Kyat, dollars, even the dreaded FECs: money comes in many shapes and sizes here. Kyat covers the little things (bottles of water, renting a bike, some rice), while dollars (or vanishing FEC notes) are usually requested for ferries, air tickets, hotels and museums. While inflation has skyrocketed in recent years, costs in US dollars don’t fluctuate much. Be sure to carry all the US dollars you need and more. Crisp, new US$100 bills attract the best exchange rates. Small bills are useful for guesthouses, most of which price rooms in dollars rather than kyat. The euro is also increasingly being accepted.

Atms

Myanmar has no ATMs (cash points).

Cash

Myanmar’s everyday currency, the kyat (pronounced chat, and abbreviated K) is divided into the following banknotes: K1, K5, K10, K15, K20, K45 (seriously), K50, K90 (no joke), K100, K200, K500, K666 (all right, we’re being devilish, sorry) and K1000.

Credit cards

Need a credit card bailout? Fly to Bangkok! Very, very few upmarket hotels accept credit cards here and no one else does. Before the banking crisis in 2003, most credit cards were accepted.

Exchanging money

Offers to ‘change money’ nearly outnumber longyi in this country. Essentially the only sensible way to get kyat is via the ‘black market’, through guesthouses, shops, travel agencies or less reliable blokes on the street. Some won’t accept US dollar bills starting with the serial numbers ‘CB’. The airport exchange counter at research time offered K450 for the dollar, while in Yangon rates were about K1250. The official exchange rate is a hilarious K6 to the US dollar!

Only US dollars and euros can be exchanged in Myanmar. Baht can be exchanged only at the border with Thailand. The exchange rates here are based on those used in the streets of Myanmar; other sources differ considerably from this.

Many travellers do the bulk of their changing in Yangon, where rates are a little better than elsewhere. Count the cash before handing over dollars, and don’t change in the street. Honest exchangers won’t mind you counting. Generally kyat are banded in stacks of 100 K1000 bills. If you want to be well and truly stitched up, then by all means change at a government bank or airport.