The national currency of Mozambique is called New Metical, its ISO code is MCN and the official abbreviation MTn. The plural of Metical is Meticai.
The New Metical is divided into 100 Centavos. There are banknotes in denominations of 1000, 500, 200, 100, 50 and 20 meticais and coins of 10, 5, 2 and 1 meticais as well as 50, 20, 10, 5 and 1 centavo. For one euro you can currently get around 45 new Meticais.
History of the currency of Mozambique
The Metical was used as a means of payment until 2006, due to high inflation rates it was replaced by the New Metical on July 1, 2006 at a ratio of 1: 1000.
Exchange into the currency of Mozambique
The import and export of Mozambique’s national currency must be declared. In the country, the New Metical can be exchanged either at exchange offices or at the bank. It is best to do this in an exchange office at the international airports of Maputo or Beira, because the exchange rates here are often much cheaper than at the domestic banks.
It is advisable to bring cash in the form of US dollars or South African rand, euros are hardly accepted outside of Maputo. The import and export of foreign currencies is unlimited.
There are ATMs in the capital, Maputo, as well as in larger cities such as Matola, Beira and Nampula. Most of them only accept Visa cards, but a few also accept EC cards. The maximum amount sold is 3000 meticais.
Credit cards are of limited use in Mozambique. The big hotels in Maputo and Beira accept them, of course, as do the international car rental companies, but outside the tourist centers they are of no use.
The same applies to travelers checks, which can only be exchanged in Maputo or Beira and at high fees. In an emergency, it is also possible to have cash transferred by telegram via the branches of the Banco International de Mocambique (BIM).
When staying in the south of Mozambique, for example in the region bordering the Kruger National Park, you can often pay with the South African rand.