Feature
The border town where two currencies and one bakery keep the peace
In a town split by a river and a customs post, the most important institution opens at 5am and accepts both.
World affairs reporter
9 min read
The bakery opens before the border does. Customers from both sides queue together.
The bakery has two tills, two price lists and one oven. It sits forty metres from a customs post that has been rebuilt three times in two decades, and it has outlasted every version.
On a Tuesday morning the queue speaks two languages and pays in two currencies. Nobody seems to find this remarkable.
Bread before borders
The owner took over from her father in 2011. She keeps a notebook of exchange rates on the counter and updates it by hand at lunchtime. “The banks change the rate every second. I change it once a day. People trust the notebook more,” she said.
Local officials describe the bakery as unofficial infrastructure. When a road closure cut the town in two last winter, it was the bakery that organised deliveries to elderly residents on the far bank.
“Every time politicians talk about the border, sales go up. People want to be somewhere normal,” she said.
A shrinking trade
The town has lost a third of its population since 2000. The bakery now employs six people, making it one of the largest private employers left. Its future depends on something the owner cannot control: whether the next government keeps the crossing open.
Amara Diallo
World affairs reporter
Amara reports on trade, borders and the places the world economy passes through.
