Cheap car hire Burma (Myanmar) - Currency

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Currency

CURRENCY: Executive Order 13310, signed by President Bush on July 28, imposed a ban on the exportation of financial services to Burma. As of August 2003, Diners Club, American Express, and Visa announced that their credit cards would no longer be usable in Burma. Mastercard pulled out of Burma in 1998. Local banks and businesses have also stopped accepting U.S. traveler’s checks. There are no automatic cash machines in the country to access currency from overseas and it is not possible to cash a personal check drawn on a foreign bank.

Although moneychangers sometimes approach travelers to offer to change dollars into Burmese kyat at the market rate, it is illegal to exchange currency except at authorized locations such as the airport, banks and government stores.

Foreigners are required to use U.S. dollars, other hard currency, or Foreign Exchange Certificates (FEC) for the payment of plane tickets, train tickets and most hotels. However, due to the growing gap in market value between the FEC and U.S. dollar, many hotels and other businesses will not accept FECs at par with dollars. Burmese kyat are accepted for nearly all transactions.