Just returned on the 16th,we was only getting 35 then,heard it dropped down again after to 34d to the pound not good.

The Dalasi dis indeed hit 34 against the £ on the day that the UK officially announced that it was in RECESSION, it has rallied to 35.50, but changes almost daily. Just befpore Christmas it was around 40 but dropped over the Christam s and New Year period - I expected it to pick up during January.

The charity has been doing its sponsporship budgets based on D35 to the £ since the drop in rates from 50+ - this cause many sponsors to feel they were being cheated but it now looks as if we may have to rebudget at D30.

All money transferred from the UK account is credited to each stuident at the actual rate of exchange so budgeting on a lower exchange rate helps top build up a small surplus in each students account, so sponsors are not losing any of their £'s.

The drop is very serious, it means that money raised for our BUSUMBA:LA school project has devalued by £1000 in every £3000 raised, at present the funds are remaining in the UK and the project which is currently awaiting Gambian Ministerial approval is on HOLD.

But please continue fundraising for us so that once we can start we have the funds ready to make rapid progress.

Many thanks

this is terrible news.

are the prices of things going down at all?

if not then gambia could be more expensive than europe.

it was bad enough wen mr jammeh in all his wisdom put the dalasi down to d40 from d53.

i think that if gambia wants any hope of salvaging its tourist industry they had better alter their rate accordingly.

also those who rely on money from abroad are goin to have a very hard time.

thanx for the replys so far.

pls keep them comin as i am running out of ideas as im planning on moving out there in the next month.

Agree - really bad news. Makes my recent postings about the cost of a bag of rice look hopelessly optomistic. Many of us who either fund students idividually or run small charities are going to have a very hard time 'keeping up the good work'.

Came home on 30th Jan, during our second week in Banjul the Delasi dropped again...we only got 31 D to the pound...at the Atlantic Hotel...and 34 D to the pound from a bar.