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Last reading 2 Nov, 01:15 UTCNext in 27:04

How far above the official rate a dollar costs, year by year

When a country limits who can buy dollars, the price on exchanges often drifts above the official rate. This page shows how far, for each country and year since 2018.

From exchange history and public records, not our own hourly checks.

What the numbers say

The biggest gap was in Argentina in 2023. A dollar cost 100% more than the official rate.

In 96 of 123 country years, a dollar cost within 2% of the official rate.

8 times a country had a gap of 25% or more for a year. 8 of those were in countries that control their currency.

The gap by country and year

Each square is the typical gap for one year, in percent. Darker means a bigger gap. The last column is the year so far.

More than 2% belowWithin 2%2% to 8% above8% to 25% above25% to 50% aboveOver 50% above

201820192020202120222023202420252026 so far

Argentinacontrolled0.71.8758288100273.23.5

Nigeriacontrolled243849429.60.0-0.1

Ukrainecontrolled0.21.19.37.46.63.81.9

Indiafree4.7-0.12.94.95.15.75.83.13.0

South Africafree4.50.62.31.90.80.3

South Koreafree2.11.3-0.1

Turkeyfree-0.20.50.40.40.91.30.40.1-0.1

Thailandfree0.40.11.30.0-0.20.00.0-0.1

Brazilfree1.00.50.40.60.70.20.3

Indonesiafree-0.11.00.30.60.20.00.30.20.0

Australiafree0.70.30.00.00.0-0.10.0

Taiwanfree-1.0-0.4-0.10.60.40.60.60.40.1

Kuwaitfree0.40.5

Perufree0.20.1

The Philippinesfree0.10.00.20.20.0

Chilefree0.10.1

Mexicofree0.00.00.10.0

Sri Lankafree0.00.0

Saudi Arabiafree0.00.0

New Zealandfree0.0-0.1

Georgiafree0.00.0

The United Arab Emiratesfree0.00.0

Singaporefree0.00.0

Vietnamfree0.00.0

Colombiafree-1.5-1.6-0.7-0.1

Since we began watching

Each square is one month of our own checks, in the same colours. The last column is the month so far.

Our own checks run to 2 Nov 2026.

More than 2% belowWithin 2%2% to 8% above8% to 25% above25% to 50% aboveOver 50% above

Sep 2026Oct 2026

Sudanfree14971825

Algeriafree9091

Iraqfree2113

Mozambiquefree1717

Venezuelafree1517

SYPfree1516

Tunisiafree1314

South Africafree6.59.1

Argentinacontrolled6.67.4

Central Africafree6.5

Kazakhstanfree5.65.5

Moroccofree4.55.2

Indiafree4.35.2

QARfree4.25.0

Bangladeshfree4.03.8

Ukrainecontrolled3.8

XOFfree3.6

Boliviafree3.51.5

Zambiafree3.52.9

MNTfree2.03.1

Ugandafree2.23.1

Pakistanfree2.82.8

Saudi Arabiafree2.42.3

Laosfree1.92.3

Sri Lankafree2.32.2

Nigeriacontrolled-0.12.1

Egyptfree1.4

Cambodiafree0.61.4

Chilefree0.71.2

Kuwaitfree0.51.1

Tanzaniafree0.31.1

Rwandafree0.71.1

LBPfree0.51.1

Azerbaijanfree-0.60.9

South Koreafree0.20.9

Jordanfree0.40.8

Vietnamfree-0.30.8

The United Arab Emiratesfree0.60.7

Perufree0.60.5

Colombiafree0.5-0.2

Kenyafree0.10.5

New Zealandfree0.40.5

Brazilfree0.40.2

Taiwanfree0.30.4

Singaporefree0.10.2

Australiafree0.20.2

Georgiafree0.10.1

Mexicofree0.1-0.1

The Philippinesfree0.0-0.1

Thailandfree0.00.0

Turkeyfree-0.1-0.1

Indonesiafree-0.2-0.1

Armeniafree-0.3-0.3

How we worked it out

For each day, we took the price of a dollar on every exchange we have history for, and used the typical one.

We divided it by the official rate for the same day. The official rate comes from the Bank for International Settlements, or from public daily rate files where it has none.

For each year we took the typical daily gap. A year needs at least 30 days with both prices to appear.

The price of a dollar is the price of a dollar stablecoin (USDT or USDC) on exchanges in the local currency, and in Argentina also the published street rate.

What to keep in mind

Exchanges are not the whole market. A gap here is the price on those exchanges, not what every person paid.

Some years have only one exchange, and countries with no history are not shown. We did not see these prices ourselves.

Get the numbers

Download as a table (123 rows)Download as JSON