Senegal Currency and Money Guide
- Country Senegal
- Guide Budget
- Reviewed 20 August 2026
- Length 1 min read
Credit CelmaKoumba, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Last reviewed 20 August 2026
Senegal is one of eight countries that share a single currency and a single central bank, and that central bank sits in Dakar. It is a genuinely unusual thing to be able to say about a capital city, and it has a practical consequence: the notes in your pocket will still spend in Bamako or Abidjan.
One bank, eight countries, and its head office is here
The Banque Centrale des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest is the common issuing institution for the eight member states of the West African Monetary Union, and its seat is in Dakar. The eight are Benin, Burkina, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. It was created on 12 May 1962.
For a visitor that means the money is regional rather than national, and that changing it back at the end of a trip is a different problem from a closed currency like the Tunisian dinar, which may not legally leave the country at all.
Getting hold of it, and the parts that go wrong
The practical shape of a trip here is that Dakar is where money happens and everywhere else is where you spend what you brought with you.
- Dakar has ATMs that accept foreign bank cards. Most of the rest of the country does not.
- Withdrawal limits can be low, so plan on several visits rather than one.
- ATMs regularly run out of money, and the FCDO says that includes in Dakar.
- Take cash out before you leave the capital for anywhere rural, and take more than you think.
- Use ATMs or reputable exchange bureaux. There is a real risk of being handed counterfeit notes when changing cash informally.
- Be alert at ATMs and use pre-arranged transport where you can.