The official currency in Egypt is the Egyptian pound (called guinn-EY in Arabic), consisting of 100 piastres (irsh singular, or oor-OOSH plural). There are piaster notes of 5, 10, 25 and 50, and pound notes of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100. Silver coins of 5, 10, 20 and 25 piastres are hardly ever used, and often if you're expecting back change of 50 piastres or less, you'll get matches or chewing gum instead.
A perpetual source of misery to Egyptians because of high inflation, the pound was fixed in a narrow band to the US dollar for a decade but in 2003 left to float freely. Still, authorities continue to manipulate the exchange rate through informal pressure on banks, and the black market is as active as ever. At time of writing, the Egyptian pound was trading at more than 6 to the US dollar, almost half its value just four years ago.
The weakness of the pound means that Egypt is ridiculously affordable for tourists; although hotels, museums and other vendors in the tourist industry charge foreigners much higher prices than locals.
To help boost its foreign currency reserves, the government requires visitors to settle hotel and tour operator bills with hard currency or international credit cards. Elsewhere, US dollars or euros are easily exchangeable, and if you're in a crunch and don't have local currency, they'll be more than happily accepted.
For an updated currency converter, go to www.reuters.com.
ATMs -- The easiest and best way to get cash away from home is from an ATM (automated teller machine). The Cirrus (tel. 800/424-7787; www.mastercard.com) and PLUS (tel. 800/843-7587; www.visa.com) networks span the globe; in Egypt, ATM machines are not as prevalent as they are in the US or Europe, but still easy to find at hotels and shopping malls. Most banks also have an ATM that's accessible during off-hours; large cities like Cairo have several banks at the major thoroughfares.
Credit Cards -- Credit cards a safe alternative to cash, and widely accepted in hotels, stores, and mid-range to upscale restaurants. If you're buying trinkets in a bazaar or cigarettes at the corner kiosk, expect to pay cash.
