The worthless Seychelles rupee makes bad news abroad

The following appeared in the Daily Telegraph – a UK national daily newspaper, in their “Travel advice” column. The article gives the lie to President Michel’s claim that during his 365 days in office the Seychelles economy has got better. The currency problem is now over ten years old and is getting worse. Mr. Michel, it appears, is either unable to make the difficult decision to resolve the currency convertibility issue or he has no idea what to do. If it is the latter, he should forthwith seek the resignation of Francis Chang Leng, the businessman he has appointed to run the Central Bank.

Unless wads of worthless notes are your idea of a souvenir, be sure to check restrictions before you buy currency abroad.

A reader recently complained that when he returned to the UK after a holiday in the Seychelles, he had been unable to change his surplus Seychelles rupees back into sterling. He wasn’t talking about a few pounds, either: he was stuck with nearly £100 of apparently worthless notes.

How had this happened? Well, he had withdrawn the rupees from an ATM when he’d first arrived in the country, but found, once he was in the resorts, he paid for everything with US dollars.

So before he left Mahé airport, he tried to exchange the rupees back into hard currency, only to discover that the bank wouldn’t take them because he didn’t have an ATM receipt. He brought them back to the UK - where nobody would accept them. “It’s infuriating,” he says, “I’m now lumbered with a large amount of currency I can’t use.”

A spokeswoman at the Seychelles Tourist Office agrees that holidaymakers should only change a small amount of currency into rupees. “Few places in the Seychelles are allowed to accept rupees as payment from non-Seychellois people,” she says. “So, depending on your itinerary, you may hardly need any local currency at all.”

So what do you do if, despite her advice, you find yourself with surplus currency at the end of your holiday? She suggests we spend it in the airport café (which does accept rupees) or put it in a charity box where at least we know it will be put to good use.

Don’t, she says, keep it for the duty-free shop in the departure lounge at Mahé airport because it doesn’t accept local currency. But why isn’t it possible to change the rupees back into sterling in the UK? Because, as Travelex points out, the Seychelles rupee is a restricted currency and cannot be imported or exported.

As a result there’s no market for it in this country and therefore no exchange-rate return for sterling.

August 8, 2007