Because of long-standing sanctions against Myanmar there are very few ATMs and credit cards are accepted only by a small number of top-end hotels. This means that most transactions must be done in cash. It also means that visitors must bring sufficient funds in cash with them to last the entire trip. The foreign currency most easily accepted is US dollars but, for reasons which are not entirely clear, only pristine notes are accepted – any marks or folds or tears and the note will be rejected. This doesn’t apply to local notes which are often seriously grubby.
Fortunately, local people generally seem honest and law-abiding, but it seemed to us that sooner or later there will be a problem, as any visitor is almost certainly be carrying a relatively large amount of cash – in terms of the local economy, possibly a life-changing amount of cash.
Until recently the official rate of exchange was fixed at around 7 Kyats to the US$. The unofficial “black market” rate was around 850 Kyats to the US$, making it impractical to do anything other than use unauthorised money changers. This has changed recently and now the official change counters at the airport offer one of the best rates.
The bad news is that the biggest note is 5,000 kyats – around £3.75 – so changing enough to last for a few weeks yields a wad the size of a small brick.
Many hotels and internal flights etc. can be paid in dollars which reduces the amount of local currency needed but nevertheless, you don’t want to run short.
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