What Liberian dollar actually arrives in Liberia when someone sends Australian dollars, at the live mid-market rate. We explain the process; we never recommend a provider.
| They send (AUD) | You receive at mid-market (LRD) |
|---|---|
| 500 AUD | 59,525 LRD |
| 1,000 AUD | 119,050 LRD |
| 2,000 AUD | 238,100 LRD |
| 5,000 AUD | 595,250 LRD |
Mid-market equivalents, not transfer quotes - the sender’s provider deducts its margin and any fees before the money reaches you. STRUCK 11:00 AEST · TUE 13 OCT.
Founded in the 1800s by freed people from the United States, Liberia is Africa's oldest republic and its capital honours a US president. Its rainforests shelter some of West Africa's last wild elephants.
Eleven horizontal stripes, six red and five white, with a blue canton bearing a single white star, in the same stripes-and-canton layout as the United States flag but with one star in place of fifty. No Liberian constitution describes the flag, and the 1847 convention notice that fixed the design assigns it no meaning. The readings come instead from the presidential National Flag Day proclamation: the eleven stripes for the eleven signers of the declaration of independence, the star for Liberia as the only independent state in Africa at the time, red for the blood of those who died in the struggle for independence, white for purity of mind, and blue for the African continent.
A continent pretending to be a country - Australia is the only nation that fills an entire continent, with most of its 27 million people clinging to the coast while the red-dirt interior does its own thing.
A blue field with the Union Jack in the canton, a large white seven-pointed Commonwealth Star below it, and the five white stars of the Southern Cross at the fly. Six of the big star's points stand for the states and the seventh for the territories; the Southern Cross marks Australia's place in the southern sky.
Liberia is one of the few countries where two currencies are both legal tender: US dollars and Liberian dollars circulate side by side and prices are often quoted in either. Working out which of the two a recipient’s account actually holds avoids a second conversion at the far end.
The exchange rate is set on the sending side - by the service the sender chooses in Australia - so the most useful thing a receiver can do happens before the transfer: share the live mid-market rate on this page so the sender can judge the margin in their quote. How the money arrives in Liberia determines any local receiving charges - bank-to-bank transfers can pass through intermediary banks that deduct handling fees.
Sending rather than receiving? The sender’s view of this corridor covers the same rate from the other side. The AUD/LRD converter page handles any amount. Receiving money from overseas explains the process end to end.
Liberia fixes the currency mix of an inbound transfer by regulation rather than leaving it to the parties. Regulation No. CBL/RSD/003/2022, issued by the Central Bank of Liberia on 12 August 2022 and published in the Official Gazette the same day, provides that all payments to recipients of inbound money transfers are to be made twenty-five per cent in Liberian dollars and seventy-five per cent in United States dollars, and reserves to the Bank the power to prescribe the currencies of payment by directive from time to time.
The same regulation decides whether cash is available at all. Any amount above two thousand five hundred dollars in a single transaction must be terminated into the recipient's bank account or mobile wallet only; up to that figure, the recipient may choose between payment over the counter and transfer into an account or wallet. Funds are to be disbursed immediately upon receipt.
One change between the 2022 rules and the 2016 ones they replaced is easy to miss. The earlier regulation expressly did not apply to inbound transfers made into recipients' accounts at commercial banks; the 2022 text carries no such exclusion and states that it establishes the payment of all inbound money transfers, whether made into accounts, into wallets or over the counter. The Liberian dollar portion is converted at the Bank's published selling rate prevailing on the date of payment, which must be displayed conspicuously at the premises and written on the receipt the recipient is given, along with the split percentage.
Sources: Regulation No. CBL/RSD/003/2022 Concerning the Licensing and Operations of Money Remittance Entities, Liberia Official Gazette Vol. XXII No. 45, 12 August 2022 · Regulation No. CBL/RSD/004/2016 Concerning Payment of Inbound Money Transfers, Liberia Official Gazette Vol. X No. 83, 15 November 2016
How much Liberian dollar will I receive in Liberia?
A little less than the mid-market figures above. The service the sender uses in Australia sets the rate and fees; local receiving banks in Liberia can also apply their own charges depending on how the transfer arrives.
The sender asked for my details - what will they need?
Whatever their transfer service asks for on the receiving side - typically your full legal name and local bank account details in Liberia. Give the name exactly as your bank records it; mismatches are the most common reason a transfer is delayed.
Why did I receive less than the rate on this page suggests?
No retail provider transacts at the mid-market rate - it is the midpoint of the wholesale market. What separates it from a quoted rate is margin, and margin is normally a larger cost than any advertised fee. On a bank-to-bank transfer an intermediary bank can also deduct a handling charge in transit.