The official Egyptian currency is the Egyptian Pound (EGP) or Gineih in Arabic. It is issued by the Central Bank of Egypt.
The Egyptian Pound is abbreviated as LE or L.E. This stands for livre Egyptienne which is French for Egyptian Pound. The Egypt currency symbol commonly used on the internet is E£ and £E.
Egyptian currency notes and coins
Egypt uses both paper currency and coins. Each Pound is divided into 100 Qirsh or Piastres. Currency notes presently in circulation are in denominations of 1 LE, 5 LE, 10 LE, 20 LE, 50LE, 100 LE, 200 LE, and Piastres 25, 50. The denomination of coins is 1 LE (Egyptian Pound), and Piastres 50, 25 and 10.
It is interesting to note that the physical size of the paper currency corresponds to the denomination. A 200 LE pound note will be larger than a 100 LE pound note, and so forth.
All Egyptian currency notes are bilingual. On the Arabic face, you’ll see pictures of Islamic buildings in Egypt, while the English side shows ancient Egyptian engravings of statues and temples.
Using Egyptian currency
The Egyptian Pound can be used anywhere in Egypt. For instance, visitors to Hurghada, a popular beach resort town along Egypt’s Red Sea coast will use Egyptian Pound, even though the bigger hotels and resorts accept dollars and pound sterling.
An important tip for tourists is not to convert their currency into Egyptian pound before coming to Egypt. They can get a better exchange rate in Egypt for their Euros, Dollars or Sterling.
Although all major foreign currencies are accepted, it is highly recommended to use Egyptian currency for purchases to get more value for your money.
Currency can be exchanged at an official bank and money exchange offices. Many of the bigger hotels also offer currency exchange services. However, it is suggested that tourists do not change foreign currency at the hotels as their rates will be lower than the banks.
When changing another currency to the Egyptian Pound, tourists are advised to get lots of small denominations as it is not easy to get change.
The exchange rate depends on the day you exchange. You can check the rate on the day on a website like this one here.
Major credit cards such as American Express, Diners Club, Visa and Mastercard can be used but usually only in the larger hotels and in restaurants that serve tourists. To avoid being charged additional rates, it is better to use travellers cheques in Euros, Dollars or Sterling.
