Ethiopian money - The Birr - By Gert Jan
As far as Ethiopia is concerned, yes, they accept all strong western currencies in all major towns (large enough to house a bank). I have not found one country though where they will touch Ethiopian money, so anyone going there will have to take either a credit card, or a stack of dollars/euros, and change them when in the country.
Ethiopian money is funny. It's worth very little, and is therefore printed on normal, untreated paper, without all kinds of hard-to-copy drawings. The 1 Birr notes, the smallest, are used so often, they end up looking like used handkerchiefs, rather than money.
Also,
since prices are low, numerous 1 Birr notes will come your way, leaving
you with thick wads of bills. For anyone going to Ethiopia therefore,
it will be wise to hang on to their dollars/euros until you need to
change them. They're easier to carry :)
When I was there the rate for dollars was about 9 or 10 to 1. Euros
did 11 or 12 to 1. The largest denomination I got was a 100 Birr bill,
equaling therefor about 10 dollar. I still have a wad of them around,
so, if the exchange rate drops dramatically, I still have a good sum
of Birr at hand.
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Gert Jan's visit to Axum - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - readers questions answered
