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<p class="MsoNormal">Dear EC colleagues,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On my next financial report you will see some minor deviations from authorized reimbursement amounts.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Usually these are in the range of $25 - $70. The reason this happens is that there seems to be a discrepancy between the currency exchange rates that are quoted to me on the web and those used by the bank when it transfers money. In making
these payments, I have tried to make it in the local currency, because that saves us $10 in wire transfer fees. However, that requires me to calculate (“guess” might be a better word) how much the US dollar amount would be in the foreign currency.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just to give you an example, I just reimbursed Ayden. You authorized me to pay him $599.89 in US dollars. I asked a web-based currency converter how much that was in UK pounds, because if I make the transfer in pounds the wire fee is lower.
The currency converter told me that $599.89 = UKP 422.40. So transferred 422.40 UK pounds. After I did that, the bank said it had paid him $625 in US dollars.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I had a similar problem with Tatiana, she was overpaid $70. From now on I will just transfer in US$ amounts.
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<p class="MsoNormal">Dr. Milton L. Mueller<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Professor, School of Public Policy<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Georgia Institute of Technology<o:p></o:p></p>
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