Heard a rumour - banks in Laos will not exchange Kip to Dollar or THB anymore?

[LuukKoeyKorat]

I've recently picked up on a story that a newly introduced Laos government policy will not allow Lao Kip to be exchanged into hard currency, ie USD, THB etc. Apparently this applies to all banks in Laos including BCEL. I haven't asked my local branch yet. Has anyone else in country already come across this personally? Cheers

Edited August 19, 2013 by LuukKoeyKorat

[phuketrichard]

it was ok back in July

worst to worst change it in Cambodia

i changed kip to $ in SR at the bank last month

[anotheruser]

Utter nonsense.

I will clarify I mean the idea that Kip can no longer be exchanged is nonsense.

Also the last thing you should consider is changing in Cambodia. The rate will be terrible. Even if such rumors were true you can always just exchange at money changers in the cities which many times actually give better rates than the bank does. How they do this, I have no idea.

Edited August 20, 2013 by anotheruser

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

Utter nonsense.

I will clarify I mean the idea that Kip can no longer be exchanged is nonsense.

Also the last thing you should consider is changing in Cambodia. The rate will be terrible. Even if such rumors were true you can always just exchange at money changers in the cities which many times actually give better rates than the bank does. How they do this, I have no idea.

I thought so too, in Phnom Penh. But I recently set out to compare rates between two St 136 changers (Central Market) and Canadia Bank. In two separate cases, the Canadia rate to change Thai baht into US dollars (31.28 baht to buy 1 US dollar) and vice versa was better than the street (31.37 and higher). If you're changing smaller amounts, the difference is hardly worth worrying about. Background: I take baht to change into US dollars because the Thai banks, in the above two cases, were demanding as much as half a baht more to buy US dollars.