Myanmar Currency

Although the currency used in Myanmar is not as popular as US Dollar, Stalin Pound and Euro etc, for those who are interested about values and various kinds of currency, they will nonetheless find incredibly valuable profit in know the currency.

Namely the currency in Myanmar is called “Kyat” pronounced as “chi-a-t”. In ancient times, silver or another alternative means were used for trade. The Britain invaded the entire Burma in 1888, and it became an extended state of India. As part of the British Empire, Burma’s first currency was the Indian silver rupee until April 1937, when the first Burmese rupee was issued.

During the Second World War, the Malayan military dollars were used for a while. But soon after the war, the Burma rupee was re-used. In 1952, the Union Bank of Burma issued a new currency “Kyat” which is used till today.

In one Kyat there are 100 Pyas. “Pya” is produced in the form of coin money. Coins are denominated as 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 pyas. And the currencies in notes are 1, 5,10,20,50, and 100 kyat. But the currency notes have been demonetized three times 1964, 1985, and 1987. Some of the notes were demolished but few of them are re-issued in another form of notes. The official exchange rate of the Kyat is 7 USD per 1 kyat. But there has been constantly black market for currency. The current exchange rate is about 850 kyat per 1 USD. This is the rate only at black markets. 

The modern Myanmar kyat was introduced in 1989. At this time, old notes were not demonetized but instead, fell into disuse due to inflation and depreciation of the physical currency itself. The modern denominations of Myanmar Kyat are 1 kyat, 5 kyat, 10 kyat, 20 kyat, 50 kyat, 100 kyat, 200 kyat, 500 kyat, 1000 kyat and 5000 kyat. Pyas (coin) are not mentioned here since one cannot find an item that can be purchased by coins. It is not terminated but it is because of the little value of coins.

In order to be able to convert from foreign currencies into Myanmar Kyats, the Union Bank of Myanmar issue a special currency note which is also known as FEC (Foreign Exchange Certificate). As soon as a tourist lands at Custom office in Yangon International Airport, FEC minimum worth of 200 USD must be bought.

ATM cards are not available in Myanmar. Exceptionally there are some shopping malls, restaurants, Hotels that accept major credit cards. But they are not found everywhere in the country. At Every purchase you have to pay in cash.  It means you have to carry sack by sack if you are going to buy something that costs you thousands of money.

The earlier notes were imprinted with images of the national heroes, but the later notes are imprinted with the head of Lion. Lion is a famous sign in Buddhism. The currency notes are quite colorful. Most of them are blue-green color.