Understanding facilitation payment dynamics
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A facilitation payment is a small, informal payment made to secure a routine government action an official is already obligated to perform, such as processing a permit or clearing goods through customs without unreasonable delay. Some jurisdictions historically treated these payments differently from outright bribery, though that distinction has narrowed considerably over time.
The core problem with facilitation payments is that they rarely stay small or occasional once an official learns the payment will be made. What begins as an informal convenience can quietly become an expected cost of doing business, and refusing to pay can then result in deliberately slow, obstructive treatment going forward.
Many companies have moved to banning facilitation payments outright, training staff to instead document any request and escalate it internally rather than pay quietly on the spot. That shift reflects a broader recognition that even small, seemingly harmless payments help normalise a much larger and more damaging problem over time.