Money
Currency
CFA (Communaut Financiaire Africaine) Franc (CFAfr) = 100 centimes. Notes are in denominations of CFAfr10,000, 5000, 2500, 1000 and 500. Coins are in denominations of CFAfr250, 100, 50, 25, 10, 5 and 1. Niger is part of the French Monetary Area. Only currency issued by the Banque des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (Bank of West African States) is valid; currency issued by the Banque des Etats de l’Afrique Centrale (Bank of Central African States) is not. The CFA Franc is tied to the Euro.
Currency exchange
Currency can be exchanged at the airport as well as at main banks and hotels.
Credit & debit cards
Diners Club and MasterCard are both accepted on a limited basis. Check with your credit or debit card company for details of merchant acceptability and other services which may be available.
Travellers cheques
Accepted by hotels, restaurants, most shops and airline offices. To avoid additional exchange rate charges, travellers are advised to take travellers cheques in Euros.
Currency restrictions
The import of local currency is unrestricted. Export of local currency is limited to CFAfr25,000. The import and export of foreign currency is unlimited.
Exchange rate indicators
The following figures are included as a guide to the movements of the CFA Franc against Sterling and the US Dollar:
| Date | May '04 | Aug '04 | Nov '04 | Feb '05 | | 1.00= | 983.76 | 978.35 | 936.79 | 953.27 | | $1.00= | 550.79 | 531.03 | 494.69 | 501.40 |
Banking hours
Mon-Fri 0800-1100 and 1600-1700.
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