What a fascinating article, reality is sometimes remarkably and amusingly counterintuitive. I would've never guessed a culture would accept counterfeit currency en masse.
If a 1000 shilling note is only worth 4 US cents, does buying stuff require a small mountain of bills?
Here are some costs for food in Somalia (USD):
Loaf of Fresh White Bread (1 lb) 0.86$
Rice (white), (1 lb) $0.54
Eggs (regular) (12) $2.37
Local Cheese (1 lb) $2.19
So, not exactly dirt cheap, paying in 4 cent increments.. imagine if you carried around only nickels, a backpack may be needed just to carry the cash. What if you want to buy a car, motorcycle, or bicycle? Where would you even store all that cash, haha.
One thing I don't fully understand, TFA says a 1000 shilling note is worth $0.04USD (meaning, $1USD would equal 25000 shillings), but when I searched for the exchange rate online, everywhere says $1USD converts to about 575 SOS (Somalian Shillings). Can anyone here enlighten me about what's going on with the shillings?
Edit: Thank you @roywiggins for explaining! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39944411
If a 1000 shilling note is only worth 4 US cents, does buying stuff require a small mountain of bills?
Here are some costs for food in Somalia (USD):
So, not exactly dirt cheap, paying in 4 cent increments.. imagine if you carried around only nickels, a backpack may be needed just to carry the cash. What if you want to buy a car, motorcycle, or bicycle? Where would you even store all that cash, haha.One thing I don't fully understand, TFA says a 1000 shilling note is worth $0.04USD (meaning, $1USD would equal 25000 shillings), but when I searched for the exchange rate online, everywhere says $1USD converts to about 575 SOS (Somalian Shillings). Can anyone here enlighten me about what's going on with the shillings?
Edit: Thank you @roywiggins for explaining! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39944411