Two young Khmer girls gather more stock of worthless pre-Khmer Rouge era Cambodian riel from ...

Accession Number P03258.452
Collection type Photograph
Object type Negative
Maker Smith, Heide
Place made Cambodia
Date made 1993
Conflict Period 1990-1999
Cambodia (UNTAC), 1992-1993
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Description

Two young Khmer girls gather more stock of worthless pre-Khmer Rouge era Cambodian riel from their dealer, which they then offer for sale as a souvenir item to tourists at the O'Russei Markets, located near the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh. So useless that it is valued by weight, the paper currency is being measured by the dealer on a set of scales. In the background, shoppers browse other stalls. Unfortunately the arrival of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) mission in Cambodia brought with it an inflation rate which devalued the riel from five to the US dollar in the late eighties to 500 riel in 1991, to 6,000 riel in 1994.

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