As Estonia braces to switch to the euro in January, a bar on a Baltic Sea island has adopted currencies from firewood to fish to help locals beat the economic blues.
Bar owner Tarvo Nomm said he decided to revive the long-lost barter system on Hiiumaa Island last week so customers could trade in what they have for what he needs.
"One man came with basket of firewood and asked for a beer, which he got, another came with nice raw potatoes and got his beer too," Nomm told AFP on Tuesday.
A fisherman also turned up. "He got his beer too but I had to take the fish home because, due to strict European Union regulations, I can't buy and use fish like that in the bar," Nomm said.
He said he also aimed to highlight the woes of rural communities like the 10,500-strong one on Hiiumaa Island.
"The recession has hit the Estonian countryside really hard," he said.
Estonia, a former Soviet-ruled state of 1.3 million people which joined the EU in 2004, is inching out of a deep slump that struck in 2008.
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