Read Sovereign Man’s recent article, and since I can never tell if he’s bullshit or for real, I looked into his strategy of investing in Republic of Georgia myself.
I chose a random bank, Liberty, and took a look at their interest rate info.
10% for a 1 year time deposit is impressive, certainly higher than the S&P’s performance lately. Assuming they’re open to U.S. depositors, I’m trying of figure out why the rates are so high, and what the reasons would be for not investing, especially if the Georgian banks are as well capitalized as espoused in the article. Tax wise, I’m assuming you’d get taxed at the 20% Georgia income tax rate, which you could apply as a foreign tax credit to your U.S. obligation...unless there’s some special tax for foreigners.
The two obvious considerations are:
1) Sovereign risk-- nationalization, war, or any of those types of things that befell 3rd world countries
2) Logistics of setting up an account -- looks like just a passport is required, but still probably would have to make a trip to Tsibili.
To point #1, if this is a valid concern, are there types of insurance policies you could get?
Can anyone think of why this is a bad idea? Any experience with this or a similar idea in another country?
I chose a random bank, Liberty, and took a look at their interest rate info.
10% for a 1 year time deposit is impressive, certainly higher than the S&P’s performance lately. Assuming they’re open to U.S. depositors, I’m trying of figure out why the rates are so high, and what the reasons would be for not investing, especially if the Georgian banks are as well capitalized as espoused in the article. Tax wise, I’m assuming you’d get taxed at the 20% Georgia income tax rate, which you could apply as a foreign tax credit to your U.S. obligation...unless there’s some special tax for foreigners.
The two obvious considerations are:
1) Sovereign risk-- nationalization, war, or any of those types of things that befell 3rd world countries
2) Logistics of setting up an account -- looks like just a passport is required, but still probably would have to make a trip to Tsibili.
To point #1, if this is a valid concern, are there types of insurance policies you could get?
Can anyone think of why this is a bad idea? Any experience with this or a similar idea in another country?