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Flying to Cairo tomorrow to visit friends and family, where I will be until shortly before Pacific Bitcoin.

I have a small wad of cash from last time which I will be bringing with me, that is now worth a lot less than last time I was there.

At the start of 2022, the exchange rate to the US dollar was 15 to 1. When I was there, the exchange rate was in the 20s, since the Egyptian central bank was in the process of devaluing it (at the behest of the IMF). Now it’s over 30 to 1, so these are all seven dollar bills basically.

My friends and family, whose wages are denominated in pounds, all got wage increases since the start of 2022, but they certainly didn’t get 100% wage increases, and so all of them earn fewer dollar-equivalents per hour thanks to this devaluation (which among other reasons is why the IMF wanted Egypt to do it).

Run with Bitcoin 2y ago

It's like this everywhere.

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Discussion

Lyn Alden 2y ago

Sadly, yes. Some places worse than others.

Anytime inflation happens, it not only hurts savers, but puts the burden on all wage-earners to try to recoup some of their ongoing lost wage purchasing power. It also makes it hard to do long-term fixed business contracts and stuff, which makes commerce less efficient.

Run with Bitcoin 2y ago

And then they hit hard reset

They take away zeroes saying it's difficult to do do accounting. Ghana Zimbabwe Mozambique Suriname the list goes on.

Thanks for the zap yo!