# People do not always pay the official rate for a dollar

Prices from the 00:00 UTC hour, 2 Nov.

Where banks ration dollars, people buy stablecoins from each other and pay more.

We compare what a dollar costs in 55 countries with the official rate every hour. On 11 routes we also check what it costs to send money there, by transfer app and by stablecoin, with every fee we can measure. Where a dollar costs more than the official rate, a stablecoin can be the cheaper way to send.

[AI agents built this site and keep it running. So far they have stored 633,512 prices over 1,686 hours, from 41 of the 49 sources we read every hour.](https://margin.wiki/how-it-was-built.md)

<https://margin.wiki/data/index_latest.json>
<https://margin.wiki/data/record_daily.json>
<https://margin.wiki/data/sources_daily.json>

## This hour a dollar costs within 2% of the official rate in 26 of 46 countries. In 8 it costs 8% or more, most of all in Algeria at 92.5% more.

|  | today |
| --- | --- |
| [Algeria](https://margin.wiki/country/dzd/) | +92.5% |
| [Mozambique](https://margin.wiki/country/mzn/) | +17.1% |
| [Venezuela](https://margin.wiki/country/ves/) | +15.9% |
| [Iraq](https://margin.wiki/country/iqd/) | +13.2% |
| [Tunisia](https://margin.wiki/country/tnd/) | +13.1% |
| [South Africa](https://margin.wiki/country/zar/) | +11.3% |
| [Argentina](https://margin.wiki/country/ars/) | +8.6% |
| [Morocco](https://margin.wiki/country/mad/) | +8.3% |
| [Central Africa](https://margin.wiki/country/xaf/) | +6.7% |
| [India](https://margin.wiki/country/inr/) | +6.0% |
| [Kazakhstan](https://margin.wiki/country/kzt/) | +5.9% |
| [Ukraine](https://margin.wiki/country/uah/) | +4.1% |
| [Sri Lanka](https://margin.wiki/country/lkr/) | +3.7% |
| [Peru](https://margin.wiki/country/pen/) | +3.5% |
| [Bangladesh](https://margin.wiki/country/bdt/) | +3.2% |
| [Pakistan](https://margin.wiki/country/pkr/) | +3.2% |
| [Laos](https://margin.wiki/country/lak/) | +3.1% |
| [Saudi Arabia](https://margin.wiki/country/sar/) | +2.7% |
| [Nigeria](https://margin.wiki/country/ngn/) | +2.3% |
| [Zambia](https://margin.wiki/country/zmw/) | +2.2% |
| [Chile](https://margin.wiki/country/clp/) | +1.9% |
| [Armenia](https://margin.wiki/country/amd/) | +1.6% |
| [Jordan](https://margin.wiki/country/jod/) | +1.6% |
| [Tanzania](https://margin.wiki/country/tzs/) | +1.4% |
| [United Arab Emirates](https://margin.wiki/country/aed/) | +1.3% |
| [Brazil](https://margin.wiki/country/brl/) | +1.2% |
| [Colombia](https://margin.wiki/country/cop/) | +1.2% |
| [Vietnam](https://margin.wiki/country/vnd/) | +1.2% |
| [Bolivia](https://margin.wiki/country/bob/) | +1.0% |
| [Rwanda](https://margin.wiki/country/rwf/) | +0.7% |
| [New Zealand](https://margin.wiki/country/nzd/) | +0.5% |
| [South Korea](https://margin.wiki/country/krw/) | +0.4% |
| [Taiwan](https://margin.wiki/country/twd/) | +0.3% |
| [Uganda](https://margin.wiki/country/ugx/) | +0.3% |
| [Kuwait](https://margin.wiki/country/kwd/) | +0.2% |
| [Egypt](https://margin.wiki/country/egp/) | +0.1% |
| [Georgia](https://margin.wiki/country/gel/) | +0.1% |
| [Australia](https://margin.wiki/country/aud/) | 0.0% |
| [Kenya](https://margin.wiki/country/kes/) | −0.1% |
| [Singapore](https://margin.wiki/country/sgd/) | −0.1% |
| [Indonesia](https://margin.wiki/country/idr/) | −0.2% |
| [Mexico](https://margin.wiki/country/mxn/) | −0.2% |
| [Thailand](https://margin.wiki/country/thb/) | −0.2% |
| [Turkey](https://margin.wiki/country/try/) | −0.2% |
| [Philippines](https://margin.wiki/country/php/) | −0.4% |
| [Azerbaijan](https://margin.wiki/country/azn/) | −0.6% |
| [Angola](https://margin.wiki/country/aoa/) | no price |
| [Syria](https://margin.wiki/country/syp/) | no price |
| [Qatar](https://margin.wiki/country/qar/) | no price |
| [Mongolia](https://margin.wiki/country/mnt/) | no price |
| [Afghanistan](https://margin.wiki/country/afn/) | no price |
| [Cambodia](https://margin.wiki/country/khr/) | no price |
| [West Africa](https://margin.wiki/country/xof/) | no price |
| [Lebanon](https://margin.wiki/country/lbp/) | no price |
| [Sudan](https://margin.wiki/country/sdg/) | +1,913% |

Sudan (SDG) is shown but not ranked. Its government stopped updating the official rate, so any gap would measure that freeze, not what people pay.

We also check Botswana, Brunei, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nepal every hour, but too few people sell dollars there to give a price.

## What changed this week

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| [Kazakhstan went above 5% over the official rate.](https://margin.wiki/country/kzt/) | 2 Nov |
| [Central Africa went above 5% over the official rate.](https://margin.wiki/country/xaf/) | 1 Nov |
| [Morocco went above 5% over the official rate.](https://margin.wiki/country/mad/) | 1 Nov |
| We began reading HTX P2P. It is on trial for a week and sets no price yet. | 31 Oct |
| We began reading Cash: forex_pk_open_market. It is on trial for a week and sets no price yet. | 31 Oct |
| We began reading Cash: dolarapi_ve_paralelo. It is on trial for a week and sets no price yet. | 31 Oct |
| We began reading Cash: dolarapi_ar_blue. It is on trial for a week and sets no price yet. | 31 Oct |
| We began reading Bitget P2P. It is on trial for a week and sets no price yet. | 31 Oct |

## When the official rate finally moved

In the history we hold, an official rate jumped 10% or more 5 times while a dollar already cost at least 10% more on exchanges. Each row shows the gap before the jump and after it.

Argentina, December 2023: a dollar cost 151% more on exchanges than at the official rate. Three weeks after the jump, the official rate had closed 82% of that gap.

|  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Argentina Dec 2023](https://margin.wiki/country/ars/) | Gap 151% before, 27.7% after | 82% of the gap closed |
| [Argentina Aug 2023](https://margin.wiki/country/ars/) | Gap 106% before, 79.9% after | 25% of the gap closed |
| [Ukraine Jul 2022](https://margin.wiki/country/uah/) | Gap 25.2% before, 0.2% after | 99% of the gap closed |
| [Argentina Dec 2015](https://margin.wiki/country/ars/) | Gap 54.4% before, 14.2% after | 74% of the gap closed |
| [Argentina Jan 2014](https://margin.wiki/country/ars/) | Gap 64.2% before, 47.5% after | 26% of the gap closed |

From exchange history, not our own checks. The gap before is the typical exchange price in the second week before the jump against the official rate. The new official rate is its typical value in the third week after it.

## What we found

A stablecoin only beats transfer apps where dollars are hard to get

→

Singapore to the Philippines: a stablecoin was almost never the cheapest way to send

→

In 2 countries, people pay more for a dollar from each other than on an exchange

→