This is quite common in countries that have regulated exchange rates. From some I've visited, Angola and Iran even had websites with the black market rate, while in Turkmenistan I had to rely on public wisdom.
Indeed. It's actually happening in Vietnam right now. The official exchange rate is ~23,000 VND per USD, but you can get up to 24,000 VND per USD on the unofficial market.
It's interesting, because Vietnam does have currency controls, but has so much USD flowing in through exports (and remittence) that it has the foreign currency reserves to keep the VND in a very narrow band (similar to what Singapore does).
It hasn't always done a great job in the past, but for the past decade or so it's keep it's currency pegged quite closely to the USD.
But over the past few months with the USD strengthening considerably, you start to see a much bigger gap in the official vs. unofficial exchange rates.
Not 'right now', it has been this way since I first moved over there in 2016 and probably even longer before that. This is also why the US keeps labelling Vietnam as a currency manipulator [1].
If you get quoted in USD there (which isn't legal, but happens anyway), the conversion rate is often ~25k.
Your best bet is to find a local viet kieu to do conversions... they tend to give much better rates than the banks. Second to that are the gold dealers, but be careful as people often wait outside to follow and later rob you.
Vietnam is a strangely rich country. It appears from the outside like people are super poor (and they are!), but the amount of stored wealth there is absolutely insane. It is as if they don't know how to spend it.
Don't forget, if you see a supercar there, which you do all the time in the larger cities, it is actually a 300% import duty, plus whatever you had to pay on top of that for coffee money.
refurb|3 years ago
It's interesting, because Vietnam does have currency controls, but has so much USD flowing in through exports (and remittence) that it has the foreign currency reserves to keep the VND in a very narrow band (similar to what Singapore does).
It hasn't always done a great job in the past, but for the past decade or so it's keep it's currency pegged quite closely to the USD.
But over the past few months with the USD strengthening considerably, you start to see a much bigger gap in the official vs. unofficial exchange rates.
latchkey|3 years ago
If you get quoted in USD there (which isn't legal, but happens anyway), the conversion rate is often ~25k.
Your best bet is to find a local viet kieu to do conversions... they tend to give much better rates than the banks. Second to that are the gold dealers, but be careful as people often wait outside to follow and later rob you.
Vietnam is a strangely rich country. It appears from the outside like people are super poor (and they are!), but the amount of stored wealth there is absolutely insane. It is as if they don't know how to spend it.
Don't forget, if you see a supercar there, which you do all the time in the larger cities, it is actually a 300% import duty, plus whatever you had to pay on top of that for coffee money.
[1] https://thediplomat.com/2021/07/vietnam-us-reach-accord-on-a...