AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye S.O.S. FROM SAN PEDRO

I think the higher interest rates are for Belize dollar accounts and not the USD accounts.

Just checking Belize Bank and Atlantic websites, both are 3%. I was intrigued about this when I was there earlier this year. I saw a billboard offering 6% on savings accounts from Atlantic. Not sure how long the billboard had been up but I was wishing I could open an account !

To get 6% on USD you need a significant amount of money in a CD.
It requires a meeting with the upper level folks at the bank.

And your money will be converted to BZD.

So, if one was to put USD into a Belize Bank and converted it to BZE to gain the 6% intrest. How difficult is it to convert it back to USD if need be?

Depends on who you know.

Don't plan on succeeding. If it was easy there would be no other banking arrangement here.
The banks have to set rates based on their insurance. There is a clear danger of the Belize Dollar default.

Ok, so no real reply. If I take say 5K BZE to the airport, will it be something they could convert there?

Am told this is not the case at all. Also told you need to have something like $50,000 US or more to begin the discussion.

But then again things change in the banking world very quickly and without much notice.

It isn't easy to convert your money back into US. You need an exchange control permit and need to have a valid reason why you want the funds converted. Belize has a limited amount of US currency on hand which is used for the purposes of purchasing goods that are then imported into the country, or to pay off foreign debt etc. So to get a permit citing that you wanted to take advantage of the high interest bearing accounts in Belize dollars and now want to rake in your profits and repatriate your funds overseas might not be a valid reason to get an exchange control permit approved.