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New ‘spiritual’ currency enters circulation
Netherlands: More than 100 shops now accepting the “raam”
Shops in Amsterdam and other cities in the Netherlands have begun to accept a currency founded by the Beatles’ guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, after the Dutch central bank declared the “raam” a legal currency. The celebrated mystic started printing the currency last October, and since the Dutch Central Bank’s ruling, more than 100 shops, including several major department stores, have started to accept it as payment. A spokesman for the bank told the BBC News website that the Maharishi has done everything according to the law, adding: “The raam can be used as long as the notes are not used as legal tender and it stays within a closed-off circuit of users.” In the Netherlands, shops are accepting the currency at a fixed interest rate of 100 euros per raam and there are thought to be around 100,000 notes in circulation. So next time you are in Amsterdam and notice the brightly-coloured currency changing hands, you are not seeing things!
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