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How about article a week later https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-17/in-ussr-flashback-russians-are-hunting-for-black-market-dollars https://www.bl

by rasz 4y ago

How about article a week later https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-17/in-ussr-flashback-russians-are-hunting-for-black-market-dollars https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-17/in-ussr-f... >For Boris, a doctor based in Moscow, the search got so desperate that he pondered a high-tech, and seemingly improbable, black-market scheme that a friend was pushing. >After interacting with a bot via messenger app, his acquaintance transferred rubles electronically to receive a barcode that he scanned to access a safe storage box at a Moscow mall. >The 1,000 euros ($1,040) he’d ordered were sitting inside. Reminds me of Poland under Soviet occupation. Official exchange rate in 1981 1 USD = 3 zł, real black market 1 USD = 400 zł. 1988 1 USD = 300-500 zł, real 1 USD = 2000-3500 zł. In 70-80 you could only buy a limited amount of dollars when being send on official business as part of state or state company representation, the limit was between 10 USD at the start of 70ties and 130USD at the end of 80ties. Of course you couldnt just pay using official bank exchange rate, there was another special much worse rate just for this purpose :).

FearNotDaniel 4y ago
OT, but... When and why did people start writing "70ties" and "80ties" instead of "70s" and "80s"? The "ty" sound is already in the number 70 so under what logic does it make sense to talk about the "seventyties" and the "eightyties"? Or is it just a hipster tic to make me, who was alive in both those decades, feel like an old fart?
- __warlord__ 4y ago
  Maybe op is not an English native speaker?
  - yetihehe 4y ago
    Considering that he wrote zł instead of zl or PLN, op is a Pole using Polish keyboard.
rootsudo 4y ago
This is a common thing around the world today, just look at Argentina and Sri Lanka. There are two rates, the bank rate and the market rate. Nothing new, and nothing unique to "Soviet" occupation, it is still a very serious issue in unstable markets.
TMWNN 4y ago
A 15-20% spread between official and unofficial exchange rates is relatively small, compared to your Polish example. Right now, it is more or less impossible for any Russian to a) use the dollar to buy anything from outside Russia, and b) travel outside Russia to buy anything in the first place. That greatly reduces the demand for exchanging rubles for dollars. This is true, whether via official or unofficial means. Consider Argentina (which rootsudo mentioned), a country that for years has had its own serious economic issues. A huge skew between the official and black-market exchange rate for hard currency, such as in Argentina (the "dolar azul"), exists because a) there are capital controls but b) it's still possible to use those dollars/Euro/Swiss franc/whatever. Argentineans are free to use the US dollar to buy things, both inside and outside Argentina. This is not true for Russians.
- jansen555 4y ago
BrandoElFollito 4y ago
If I am not mistaken (and neither were the people who told me that), there was a per diem for the travel. Which means that you were better off not spending the food or hotel money but manage a different way (say, take your food with you). With these differences on rates this was really making a difference. You could also spend this money in special skips with western items (called Pewex IIRC)

by rasz 4y ago

FearNotDaniel 4y ago

OT, but... When and why did people start writing "70ties" and "80ties" instead of "70s" and "80s"? The "ty" sound is already in the number 70 so under what logic does it make sense to talk about the "seventyties" and the "eightyties"? Or is it just a hipster tic to make me, who was alive in both those decades, feel like an old fart?

__warlord__ 4y ago
Maybe op is not an English native speaker?
- yetihehe 4y ago
  Considering that he wrote zł instead of zl or PLN, op is a Pole using Polish keyboard.

rootsudo 4y ago

This is a common thing around the world today, just look at Argentina and Sri Lanka. There are two rates, the bank rate and the market rate. Nothing new, and nothing unique to "Soviet" occupation, it is still a very serious issue in unstable markets.

TMWNN 4y ago

A 15-20% spread between official and unofficial exchange rates is relatively small, compared to your Polish example. Right now, it is more or less impossible for any Russian to a) use the dollar to buy anything from outside Russia, and b) travel outside Russia to buy anything in the first place. That greatly reduces the demand for exchanging rubles for dollars. This is true, whether via official or unofficial means. Consider Argentina (which rootsudo mentioned), a country that for years has had its own serious economic issues. A huge skew between the official and black-market exchange rate for hard currency, such as in Argentina (the "dolar azul"), exists because a) there are capital controls but b) it's still possible to use those dollars/Euro/Swiss franc/whatever. Argentineans are free to use the US dollar to buy things, both inside and outside Argentina. This is not true for Russians.

jansen555 4y ago

BrandoElFollito 4y ago

If I am not mistaken (and neither were the people who told me that), there was a per diem for the travel. Which means that you were better off not spending the food or hotel money but manage a different way (say, take your food with you). With these differences on rates this was really making a difference. You could also spend this money in special skips with western items (called Pewex IIRC)