The Myanmar kyat
Currency · MMK · K · 1 country
Under section 8(a) of its founding law, the Central Bank of Myanmar is the only issuer of the kyat, in notes and in coins. The present kyat arrived on 1 July 1952, replacing the rupee at par and splitting into 100 pyas. Its name is far older: a kyattha was a Burmese weight of about 16 grams of silver.
The abbreviation
The sign is the Latin letter K, the initial of kyat. Burmese practice writes K for one kyat and Ks. for more, before the number and followed by /-, so Ks.500/-. Amounts under a kyat go after -/, where -/50 means fifty pyas.
- ISO code
- MMK
- ISO number
- 104
- Subunit
- pya, 1/100
An amount, written out
K 1,234
- K 1,234English
- ၁,၂၃၄ KBurmeseMyanmar
Where the Myanmar kyat is the official currency
Myanmar uses it on its own. The central bank let it float on 2 April 2012, after a decade in which the official rate and the street rate stood far apart.
About the Myanmar kyat
Who holds the right to issue kyats
The Central Bank of Myanmar describes itself as the sole issuer of the country's notes and coins, with the aim of preserving the value of the currency and keeping payments efficient. The right has changed hands several times. The Burma Currency Board issued money under the Currency and Coinage Act of 1946. The Union Bank of Burma Act moved the sole right of issue to a new Currency Department of the Union Bank on 1 July 1952, and the board was wound up. Notes later came from the People's Bank of Burma, renamed the Union of Burma Bank on 30 September 1972, and after 1988 from the Central Bank of Myanmar.
How a weight of silver became money
The kyat was a denomination of Burmese silver and gold coins until 1889, divided into 16 pe of four pya each. King Mindon Min set up a Royal Mint in Mandalay. Its dies came from Paris. The coins carried the royal peacock seal on the obverse, which gave them their name. After the British conquest the Indian rupee replaced the kyat, and while Burma was governed as part of India its rupee, like India's, was linked to sterling at one shilling and sixpence.
A second kyat circulated under Japanese occupation from 1943 and was worthless by the end of the war. The Currency and Coinage Act of 1946 brought notes marked for Burma only, and on 1 July 1948 the Indian notes carrying that mark were demonetised. When the kyat returned in 1952 it replaced the rupee at par and was decimalised into 100 pyas; a rupee had been 16 pe, or 64 pyas.
Which notes were cancelled by decree
The 50 and 100 kyat notes stopped being legal tender on 17 May 1964, after the revolutionary government took power. On 3 November 1985 the 20 kyat notes of 1958 and 1964, the 100 kyats of 1976 and the 50 kyats of 1975 were demonetised in turn.
Odd values came next. The Union of Burma Bank issued a 75 kyat note on 11 November 1985, a 35 kyat note on 1 August 1986, and notes of 45 and 90 kyats on 22 September 1987. The 25, 35 and 75 kyat notes had been withdrawn from circulation on 5 September 1987, seventeen days before.
What circulates after the Lion series
After the State Law and Order Restoration Council took power in 1988, the central bank issued a Lion series and gradually retired the notes bearing Aung San's portrait. Notes ran from 1 to 1,000 kyats and coins from 1 to 100. A 5,000 kyat note followed on 1 October 2009 and a 10,000 on 15 June 2012, each reissued with stronger security features in 2014 and 2015. New 1,000 and 500 kyat notes in a Bogyoke design came out in 2020. The central bank says counterfeits turn up only among the higher values. Inflation pushed the coins of 1999 out of use.
Where the official rate and the street rate split
From 2001 to 2012 the official rate stood between Ks.5/75 and Ks.6/70 to the US dollar, while the street rate ran from Ks.750/- to Ks.1,335/-. The central bank let the kyat float on 2 April 2012, setting a starting rate against the US dollar and leaving the market to move it from there. In March 2013 the Finance Ministry announced the end of Foreign Exchange Certificates, which tourists had been made to buy until 2003.
Common questions
Questions about the Myanmar kyat
What does Ks.500/- mean on a price in Myanmar?
Five hundred kyats. K stands for one kyat and Ks. for several, written before the number, and the /- after it shows that no pyas follow. A sum under one kyat is written the other way round, so -/50 is fifty pyas, half a kyat.
When did the kyat replace the rupee?
On 1 July 1952. The Union Bank of Burma took over the right to issue money that day, and the kyat replaced the rupee at par while moving to a decimal system of 100 pyas. The rupee had been divided into 16 pe, or 64 pyas. Kyat was not a new word: it had been the name of Burmese silver and gold coins until 1889, and of a wartime currency under Japanese occupation from 1943 to 1945. The first coins of the new kyat, for 5 and 10 pyas, went into circulation on 1 October 1952.
Why did Burma issue 45 and 90 kyat notes?
The Union of Burma Bank issued both on 22 September 1987, seventeen days after it withdrew the 25, 35 and 75 kyat notes. The central bank's own history records the dates and the denominations. It gives no reason for the unusual values.
Are pya coins still in use?
Rarely. The pya is the hundredth of the kyat, and coins of 1 to 50 pyas were struck from 1952. The one pya was last minted in 1966, and the last 10 and 50 pya coins date from 1991. Inflation has since pushed even the kyat coins of 1999 out of everyday use.