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| People use the Cambodian currency for anything less than a dollar |
30 March 2011
By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh
In Cambodia, money talks as loudly as it does anywhere else in the world – but at least it never burns a hole in your pocket.
That’s because there aren’t any coins. You can’t talk about coppers or nickels in Cambodian riel. The national bank gave up striking anything metallic more than a decade ago.
Instead there’s a lot of paper. Right down to the seldom-seen 50 riel note. That’s worth all of a cent and a quarter – and it’s regarded with about as much affection as the pitifully lightweight one yen coin in Japan.
So wallets, billfolds and purses bulge with dozens of notes – ranging from the crisply-minted to the well-used and filthy. But to many people, the riel is simply small change.
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