Money, money, money
Scientific American: The Check Is in the Mail
“…even though the average migrant sends back just a couple of hundred dollars a month, it adds up to serious money. The World Bank estimates that developing countries received $167 billion last year–twice as much as they got in foreign aid. Mexico’s intake has quintupled in a decade, to $18 billion; labor is now the country’s biggest export after oil. And that is just the amount flowing through official channels. To be showered with money seems like a happy arrangement for the receiving country. Yet in the 1980s remittances acquired a reputation among social scientists as “easy money” that, like an oil windfall, can rot out an economy.”
I’ve heard that it’s a big source of income for some households in Kosovo and for some people in Albania, but I haven’t seen any concrete figures.
I wonder how much Belarus gets in the way of such remittances. I suspect, very little. Alexander Lukashenka, being afraid of the Western money going to political entities or NGO’s, blocked virtually all ways of transferring money to Belarus in legal ways, through a bank system or Western Union.
It’s virtually impossible to make a wire transfer to Belarus from abroad to a private Belarusian citizen. First of all, the money will not arrive at his bank account, but initially would be placed on the account of a special state commission. Then the beneficiary should make an appointment with the commission (which presides only once per week), come to an official meeting, explain to the officials what’s the purpose and origin of the incoming payment. And if commission members are happy with his/her answers, the money is then placed on his/her personal account. After that the person still will have to pay huge tax on the received amount, even if he proved that this is charity or humanitarian aid money…
Correct me if I’m wrong, but, afaik, the only known way to pass money to a private person in Belarus are envelopes with cash that you pass with your friends.
April 9th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
I might be wrong, but isnt that stealing? You take money that is not yours, which is sent to another and hold it as your own. Then also adding huge taxes ontop IF the recipient will actually receive it… its plain theft. lukashenka quote : “There is no corruption” yeah right. Somehow I think like atleast 30% of the state economy runs on such scams (see random confiscating of imported / exported / passing thru goods). I didnt know all this but I havent even considered to send money via legal ways to a friend, knowing that it would probably just dissapear. Just sending a packet to someone is a hassle for both the person sending and receiving.
April 11th, 2006 at 2:06 am
Well, the best way to transfer money to Belarus on a regular basis (or anywhere in the world, for that matter) is to open a bank account, say, in the US, get an ATM card, and then give the ATM card to the money recipient along with the pin code. They can simply get cash from an ATM machine in Minsk. The cash is not taxed, and they need no explanation. There are no fees, and the exchange rate is usually very reasonable. This is how I send money to my relatives in Minsk. We are all very happy with the arrangement. I realize that perhaps with disclosing the technique, I am opening the door for the regime to introduce some kind of measure to prevent or complicate it. Let’s just hope that they are not following comments in your blog too closely :)
April 11th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
DZ, I have actually thought of your method before. Altho a slightly altered variant which involves making a copy of my bank card. You say there are no taxes, however since the bank account will be in a foreign currency some conversion costs are charged. I noticed this when I made a transaction in the Czech Republic. I do not know if the regime would impose any measure on this method of money transfer as they would be violating an international contract with VISA and others. Am also pretty certain that most of the regime’s members have foreign bank accounts. They would end up causing problems for themselves.
May 14th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
I am considering sending one such bank card to a relative in Belarus. (which is actualy not exactly legal unless i disclose the recipient as a joint account holder. but no one has to know… right)
I don’t suppose anyone here would be able to estimate or give an example of the fees and the % i may loose on the exchange rate and also what is the maximum amount of money one can withdraw from an ‘ATM’ in Belarus?
MoneyGrams seems the next best service to use to send money to Minsk.
email:s3rg3y@hotmail.com
November 6th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Yes after reading this article, best way seems to be, Cash Debit Card in your name, send person in Belarus the Card, & email or text the PIN.. In Uk there are many doing this & u can sign up thru the WEB
mycashcard & bread are two i used
U can visit Barclays, this is best card, according to www.moneysavingexpert.com
Problem with these cards is LOADING CASH ON them
July 21st, 2008 at 7:40 pm
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:)
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I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
November 18th, 2008 at 1:42 am
Is there any way to send them the card from abroad ?
February 27th, 2009 at 2:54 am
what if I have to send a large amount of money from US to BY, for my parents to buy a flat? what do I do to get taxed less and not get killed with bank rates for transfers or corruption? Obviously I cannot use an ATM…
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September 21st, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Is this still true? I have a small amount to refund to a Belarus citizen after an overpayment. Ebay can’t do anything about it, and PayPal says it cannot credit money to Russian (sic!) banks. My own bank will do a Credit Transfer, but like Western Union and MoneyGram etc the charges come to over half of the sum involved. I guess putting two bills in an envelope is not an option, as I assume all mail is either scanned or opened.
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