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Tech Guru wroteIs WU delivering transfers in USD ? Any One received an abroad transfer a couples of days ago and received his/her money in USD ? There is an issue where they are telling people that they don't have USD and people receoving their money in LBP × Black Market Rate (currently at 7300). I need some validation.

Thank You
Yes and yes---I was at WU a few days ago and was there was someone who received a wire transfer for $500 (490 actually)---the guy at WU said he only had enough actual $$'s for $300 and the rest was paid in LL (7200) that day. I think you are going to need some luck on where you choose to receive the transfer and even more luck if you know the person at OMT as there is still a shortage of $$'s.

Edit: If you still want actual $$ bills, still best to go through a 'fresh' dollar bank account. While they changed the rules, supply and demand trumps the dollar rule they tried to implement.
a month later
user wroteAppearances can be deceiving, the exchanges are taking a risk selling usd for 1600 and 1700 lbp, I wouldn't do it. 1700 lbp for usd seems cheap to me given that we have a country that is the most indebted in the world, does not produce anything, NEEDS imports constantly for food energy and medicine. That is a financial death sentence right there. Our credit rating was downgraded again yesterday.

All of you, get all the USD bills you can, stash it at home. Whether or not you have money in the bank could become meaningless if things keep getting worse(and it seems they will) People who have farm lands maybe buy some plastic tents for farming and a system to collect rain water, it might become useful. Things are going to shit very fast, very very fast.

also this https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10162846020780457&id=526730456&sfnsn=mo&d=n&vh=i
^ This guy is a visionary.

For the coming period do whatever you can to get rid of the lira. Canned food, medicine, even stuff you don't need but last long you can sell it later and it would be better than keeping the lira. When the central bank stops supporting the basics with its dollars while still printing lira to pay the public sector employees, the lira will become toilet paper.

I recommend reading "Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises" by Ray Dalio [spoiler alert, he recommends shorting the currency, points out that the Germans were trading rocks when the mark hyperinflated and preferred that over their currency]

Buying dollars is not the only alternative you can do, there are things that are even better. Medicine with a long expiry date is better than buying dollars as it is more cost effective(ba3do mad3oum) makaroni lasts long, toilet paper. Hoard stuff, don't keep your lira paycheque. If what they are saying is true and the central bank will run out of reserves in 2 months things will get worse dramatically(and if they are saying 2 months that means it is at best 1 month)

I would also talk to my neighbors about local neighborhood watches and security. Plan around fuel becoming very expensive, maybe setup your summer home in the village for winter. It might be safer to stay there than in the city.
9 days later
Limits of LBP Withdrawal may be applied soon. Limit of 2 million LBP per Month !


Tech Guru wroteLimits of LBP Withdrawal may be applied soon. Limit of 2 million LBP per Month !


https://i.ibb.co/x3GdCcq/IMG-20201014-WA0050.jpg
Can still use credit cards to go over that--it seems that they are running out of currency and can't replace it quickly enough. Of course, if people use debit/credit cards it will make it more expensive for the merchants as they will be forced to accept exorbitant fees for being able to accept the cards, unless the central bank steps in and unifies and lowers the rates.
How will people pay the wages of their employees if there are limits of LBP withdrawals?
xazbrat wrote
Tech Guru wroteLimits of LBP Withdrawal may be applied soon. Limit of 2 million LBP per Month !


https://i.ibb.co/x3GdCcq/IMG-20201014-WA0050.jpg
Can still use credit cards to go over that--it seems that they are running out of currency and can't replace it quickly enough. Of course, if people use debit/credit cards it will make it more expensive for the merchants as they will be forced to accept exorbitant fees for being able to accept the cards, unless the central bank steps in and unifies and lowers the rates.
This should happen here in Lebanon.
Cash should cease to exist and cards should be encouraged by the government and central bank to each and every shop starting from the neighborhood dekkene!

This is how I believe is the status in Venezuela because of their hyperinflation where carrying huge amounts of money is hectic as they are still low in value.
I feel if banks keep acting like they are now, total lawlessness, people just will start making valuable transactions using outside banks.
E.g. card2card payments, both buyer and seller banks are abroad.
cryptocurrency on the way
Nothing beats good old fashioned gold and silver coins. It is trusted everywhere with little controversy, lasts forever, no rust no nothing and no hacks.
AVOlio wrote
This should happen here in Lebanon.
Cash should cease to exist and cards should be encouraged by the government and central bank to each and every shop starting from the neighborhood dekkene!
.
Dude they are doing that now to steal people money and merchants will not take virtual/fake money using any card as they cannot do anything with it (Literally). Some gas stations stopped accepting cards altogether yesterday.
user wrote Nothing beats good old fashioned gold and silver coins. It is trusted everywhere with little controversy, lasts forever, no rust no nothing and no hacks.
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King Georges coin is now 460$ which is ~3,680,000LL, none of these currencies can be withdrawn from banks now (considering ~2M per month is for your daily expanses). Good luck buying those.
Update:

بعد تعميم مصرف لبنان القاضي بإلزام مستوردي المحروقات الدفع النقدي، اتخذ موزعو المحروقات في لبنان قرارا بتوقيف اعتماد البطاقات المسبقة الدفع على المحطات.

<admin edit: adding a source>
Guitaret wroteUpdate:

بعد تعميم مصرف لبنان القاضي بإلزام مستوردي المحروقات الدفع النقدي، اتخذ موزعو المحروقات في لبنان قرارا بتوقيف اعتماد البطاقات المسبقة الدفع على المحطات.
It's just the beginning, others will follow such as supermarkets, etc..
Guitaret wrote Dude they are doing that now to steal people money and merchants will not take virtual/fake money using any card as they cannot do anything with it (Literally). Some gas stations stopped accepting cards altogether yesterday.

They cannot do anything because not all places have pos machines, they're not very common.
But imagine if EVERY business small or big have pos machines and accept cards, then they can use them everywhere.

That's the case in Venezuela now where every business, starting from a small hot dog kiosk on the street has a pos machine.
also at what rate will POS charge you if your card/account is in USD not LBP.
AVOlio wrote
Guitaret wrote Dude they are doing that now to steal people money and merchants will not take virtual/fake money using any card as they cannot do anything with it (Literally). Some gas stations stopped accepting cards altogether yesterday.

They cannot do anything because not all places have pos machines, they're not very common.
But imagine if EVERY business small or big have pos machines and accept cards, then they can use them everywhere.

That's the case in Venezuela now where every business, starting from a small hot dog kiosk on the street has a pos machine.
Most taxis companies in Europe have POS in every car, dunno why here banks didn't promote them before
Basically Salameh wants to keep the money with him, and he wants people to play with the numbers in the banks. His plan is aimed at regaining control of the market that became a cash market, but it seems he is only pushing people more and more away from him, his banks and our currency.
Guitaret wrote
user wrote Nothing beats good old fashioned gold and silver coins. It is trusted everywhere with little controversy, lasts forever, no rust no nothing and no hacks.
.
King Georges coin is now 460$ which is ~3,680,000LL, none of these currencies can be withdrawn from banks now (considering ~2M per month is for your daily expanses). Good luck buying those.
What about silver? When there is a need there will be a way. Frankly I hate the king george coin, I don't know why it is the only coin in Lebanon. I prefer the Canadian mapple leaf myself, more gold in it and less impurities.
jsaade wrotealso at what rate will POS charge you if your card/account is in USD not LBP.
I refuse to use mine as they are charging at 1500ish---if they start using a model where the current exchange rate can be used, then I will use credit cards again. Really stupid not to encourage the use of credit/debit cards during a pandemic too---BDL could have been on top of this 7 months ago, but the institution is a failure when it comes to innovation and consumer friendly options.
Our company accountant claims that the root cause of this dilemma is that it was decided last year that 1500 was a too low price for 1 USD and that it should increase but things got out of hand in terms of food prices. And he feels that the current 8000 is too low still. Who in the right mind thinks that "One" of a foreign currency is worth over a "thousand" of a native currency? Frankly, I am upset at him.
VincentKeyboard wroteOur company accountant claims that the root cause of this dilemma is that it was decided last year that 1500 was a too low price for 1 USD and that it should increase but things got out of hand in terms of food prices. And he feels that the current 8000 is too low still. Who in the right mind thinks that "One" of a foreign currency is worth over a "thousand" of a native currency? Frankly, I am upset at him.
No one individual can decide what is the value of one currency compared to another.
Only the law of supply and demand does.
Just like commodities and items, a currency can also be considered as a commodity.
If your country is a producer of a certain commodity and if people all around the world are interested in buying this commodity that you're producing, then they will go ahead and exchange their own currency to buy our own currency, in order to eventually buy the desired commodity that you are producing.

But since we do not produce anything, and we do not have enough demand for our currency by outsiders, because no one is interested in buying something we produce, then the demand of our currency will be low, therefore it has no value against other currencies.


I kind of agree with the accountant regarding the fact that it was decided a year ago and maybe more that 1500 lbp is very low for a dollar, because I remember many people online, especially here asking for help about their usd loans, where they have been contacted by their banks and they've been told they would get big discounts if they continued paying in dollar and stuff like that.
The banks knew this would happen all along and they tried acquiring their given loans as much as they could.