Buy Egyptian gifts and souvenirs online. Papyrus, silver jewellery, statues and egyptian cotton t-shirtsEgypt Gift Shop

Unique Ancient Egyptian and personalized gifts and an online travel guide since 2003


Javascript DHTML Drop Down Menu Powered by dhtml-menu-builder.com

  Home

 

 

Egyptian Money

The currency of Egypt is the pound. The Egyptian pound was first put into circulation in 1836. the Egyptian pound is divided into 100 piastres. There are several currency units as indicated in the following table, every banknote has two faces, one in Arabic and usually has pictures of a well known mosque in Egypt and the other face is in English and has pictures of ancient Egyptian figures, statues or generally monuments.

 

Egyptian Currency information

Since the beginning of the circulation of silver and gold coins in Egypt and until 1834, no specified monetary unit existed to serve as a basis for the monetary system. Only a few of the coins were minted locally. In 1834, a Decree was promulgated providing for issuing an Egyptian currency based on a bimetallic base, gold and silver. In 1836 the Egyptian pound was minted and put into circulation.

The Monetary Reform Law issued in 1885 which set gold standard to become the basis for the Egyptian monetary system, and the country had a unified currency, the Egyptian gold pound.

It was permitted to use some foreign gold coins, particularly the Sterling pound, at fixed legal rates. The Sterling gold pound, which was valued at more than its gold content compared to other foreign gold coins, became the main medium of exchange, and the Egyptian monetary system was based on the Sterling gold standard.

In 1898 the National Bank of Egypt was established and was granted, by the government, the privilege to issue Egyptian banknotes, payable in gold for a period of 50 years. The National Bank of Egypt started issuing banknotes on the 3rd of April 1899.

Consequently, the currency circulated in Egypt consisted of gold Sterling pounds and Egyptian banknotes convertible into gold. This situation continued up to 1914 when a special Decree was issued making Egyptian banknotes a legal tender and suspending their convertibility into gold. Thus, the Egyptian pound banknote became the basic currency unit, and the base of the Egyptian monetary system was changed to fiduciary paper money standard. Accordingly, gold coins were no longer used in circulation, with the result that the volume of note issue increased from LE 11.6 million at the end of 1915 to LE 3557.0 million at the end of 1980, and further to LE 38320.0 million at the end of 1999. In 1930, for the first time in the history of Egyptian banknotes, a watermark was used in issued banknotes. This was followed, towards the end of 1968, by using a metallic thread (in notes issued by the Central Bank of Egypt) as a guarantee against counterfeit instead of dependence on complexity of colors .Other features against counterfeit were found in the detailed specifications of each currency. Holograms are currently added to large denomination notes.

In July 1960 the Central Bank of Egypt was established and granted the right of issuing Egyptian banknotes. Several changes were introduced with respect to the watermark, the designs shown on the notes and the colors.

The Central bank of Egypt established a printing plant for banknotes in 1968 instead of printing them abroad. The Bank also served some Arab central banks in printing their banknotes.

In 1977 The Central Bank of Egypt issued notes of 20 and 100 pounds in 1979 and 50 pounds in 1993.

Tips when using Egyptian money

  • Look carefully at the banknote because sometimes people are a bit confused with Egyptian money. read the note value on the English face if you couldn't read Arabic.
  • Some Egyptian banknotes are a bit old so they look different than new ones. Don't worry all can be used in Egypt.
  • When you exchange your currency with Egyptian currency go to an exchange company, a bank or ask at the hotel but DO NOT exchange currency from unauthorized dealers, it is forbidden by law to exchange currency in an Unauthorized place. You will find so many exchange offices in Egypt you might be surprised of the how many they are.
  • When you tip hotel servant, waiter ..etc use one-five pound notes.
  • When you go to buy a souvenir better go alone not with a guide, and go to several shops to ask for prices to get the best deal.

Reference : The Central Bank of Egypt

 

Egyptian banknotes

 

Currency Unit
Quarter
25 Egyptian piaster note or Quarter. The Arabic face has the picture of Aisha Mosque The back or the English face of the Quarter has the picture of the Quraysh Hawk the official symbol of Egypt
Half pound
The Arabic face of the half pound note with the picture of Al Azhar mosque The English face of the half pound note with the picture of Ramses II
One Pound one Egyptian pound
The Arabic face of the pound has the picture of Sultan Qayetbay mosque The other face of the Egyptian pound has the picture of Abu Simbel temple in Aswan
5 Pound note
The Arabic face of the five pound note with the picture of Ahmed ebn Tolon Mosque The back of the 5 pound note 
10 Pounds
The Arabic face of the 10 pound note has the picture of El Refaee moque The English face of the 10 pound note has the picture of Khafre with the eagle
50 Pounds
The Arabic face of the 50 pound note has the picture of Abu Hreba moque The English face of the 50 pound note has the picture of the Karnak temple
100 Pounds
The Arabic face of the 100 pound note has the picture of Sultan Hassan mosque The back of the 100 pound note has the picture of the Sphinx
200 Pounds
  The Arabic face of the 200 pound note has the picture of Qanibay Mosque The English face of the 200 pound note with the statue of the Egyptian scribe
 

Egyptian coinage

Egyptian coins are made of copper and silver alloys, round in shape and have embossed pharaonic and Islamic style pictures and calligraphy. Coins replaced the banknotes of values less than 5 pounds. Coins are difficult to carry so be careful when you have some of them in your pocket, you can put them in a wallet with a zippered pocket or coin case (which is rare ) or you can put them in your jacket pocket.

Half Pound

Coin & Banknote

The 50 piastres coin is produced from specific metals. banknotes of this unit have been cancelled by the Egyptian financial authorities a few years ago.

One Pound

Coin & Banknote

A few years ago the Egyptian pound was issued only in banknote but now you can only find it as a coin as the Egyptian government decided it is cheaper to produce coins and cancelled printing of the one pound note.

 

 
Note:
Some companies in Egypt have the acronym S.A.E beside their names, so What does SAE stand for in Egypt? Societe Anonyme Egyptienne SAE stands for Societe Anonyme Egyptienne (French: Egyptian Joint Stock Company)

Back to Egypt guide

If you need to send flowers or gifts to Egypt you can order online in Arabic or English language at Todayflowers.com to send flowers within Egypt. You can also deliver flowers worldwide. Fast delivery of flowers by first class Egypt flower delivery service. Whether you want flowers delivered in Cairo or to New York, Todayflowers.com enables you to order flowers and have them delivered the next day. In addition to Egypt flower delivery you can also order cakes, teddies and chocolates.

 
 
 

Egypt Gift Shop

Online shopping since 2003

 

Copyright © 2003-2016 EgyptGiftshop.com
Owner M.R Web design services
Goods and services provided by Egypt gift shop (Egypt) Sold by 2CheckOut.com Inc. (Ohio, USA)
Web hosting by Alexwave

 

Home
Papyrus paintings
Portrait on Papyrus
Egyptian silver jewelry
Egyptian silver cartouche
Personalized gifts
Egyptian cotton T shirts
Egyptian cotton sweatshirts

French Chocolate
Online Florists
Flowers care tips
Flowers joy of life
Egypt DVDs
Crystal gifts
Christmas gifts
Exotic Gifts
Baby gift store

Watches from Amazon


 

Egyptian History articles
Egyptian pyramids
Sphinx
Papyrus history
Ancient Egyptian Gods
Isis
Maat
Tutankhamun
Nefertiti
Ankh
Hieroglyphics
Papyrus
Egyptian jewelry
Egyptian cotton
Egypt Islamic history
Coptic history of Egypt
Egyptian Book of the Dead
Ancient Egypt Books
Egypt travel guide
Egyptian cities
Cairo
Alexandria
Aswan
Luxor
Hurghada
Sharm El Sheikh
Port Said

Egypt information
Egypt weather
Distances between Egyptian cities
Egyptian museum
Grand Egyptian Museum
Egyptian money
Egyptian food
Egyptian newspapers
Egypt phone calls
Egypt Air
Airlines offices in Egypt
Airline ticket reservation
Cheap holidays to Egypt
Holiday budget tips

Translate from English to Arabic

Egypt hotels
Cairo hotels
Alexandria hotels
Aswan hotels
Luxor hotels
Sharm el Sheikh hotels
Dahab hotels
Hurghada hotels
Taba hotels
Port Said hotels

Diving in Sharm El Sheikh
Islamic sites
Islamic charity organizations
Pictures of Ancient Egypt
Photos of Modern Egypt

Advertising opportunities
Contact us