Living with the $300 limit
Talasbank now pays out at most $300 of your dollars a month. Eleven things families are doing, honestly assessed.
Zholdosh A. · 31 May 2026 · Issue 212 min read
Since the spring the dollar cash at the banks has been short, and this month Talasbank put a cap: $300 a month per customer. Here is what I hear in the queue and on the telephone.
- Paying rent in som. The landlord grumbles but accepts. It works if the landlord is also tired of queuing.
- Pooling the family limit. Each adult takes his $300, one person holds the pot. Works. Needs trust.
- Asking relatives abroad to send in som. Works, but the transfer office takes a share.
- Buying at the bazaar rate. It is more expensive. I do not recommend or condemn, I only say the rate is not the bank's.
- Postponing the car. Wise.
- Postponing the wedding. Not wise, but understood.
- Barter among neighbours. Older than the dollar.
1 Comment
Mairam Ergeshova asked me to say she reads this in the bazaar and gives it to the stall neighbours. Her sentence about panic is now written on a carton at row six.
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