Come over here for changing money!
the waitress of a café shouts on the other side of the street.
Another waitress leads me through the expensively furnished room to the cash register in the back. There a 3rd waitress tells me the rate: $7,2 Pesos per $1 USD.
Here, besides cakes and the espresso machine, you can find the Argentine black market for US Dollar!?
$31 US Dollar are $155 Argentine Pesos in the bank, but $224 Argentine Pesos on the black market.
In 2001, $31 US Dollar were equal to $31 Argentine Pesos...
I certainly wouldn’t have looked for the infamous foreign currency black market in a posh café. But all Argentineans need foreign currencies, because they are not allowed to buy them anymore. The state has tightened the requirements for buying them. And because of the summer vacation, the rate is as high as never before.
But travelling is not the only thing, the Argentineans need the foreign money for. Because of inflation, the Peso loses about 25% of its value each year. Since 2002, the Peso has lost 86% of its value. And the Peso is already the 5th Argentine currency since 1969. All previous currencies collapsed through hyperinflation, last in 1992 and probably again soon.
official rate and "Blue Dollar" black market rate for one US Dollar - source: www.dolarblue.net
“Talking about the parallel dollar price is an illegal act.”
(Argentina’s Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo, 2012)
If you’re going to Argentina, be sure to bring foreign currencies. The rate at the ATM sucks. Alternatively, you can try xoom.com or Bitcoins, more infos at dgcmagazine.com.
Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentinien 
Wow crazy- when I was there in November 2011 the rates were still pretty acceptable.
(Oh and for fun, Google “Big Mac index in Argentina” for another example of what the gov’t does to make it seem like everything’s going fine…)
Well, it seems to have escalated last winter (June), when Argentina had to import power for heating.
Everything seems to be business as normal here, except for people asking me on the street, if I have Euros/Dollars. And ofc it’s probably the cheapest time to travel to Argentina, now.
Lol @ fudging Big Mac prices. There are McDonalds in Bariloche, maybe I should take advantage of the artificially low Big Mac price. My new favourite economic statement is:
“average annual rate of burger inflation (19%)”
Staatliche Einschränkungen in der Konvertibilität von Währungen haben eigentlich noch nie aus einer Krise geholfen, und allenfalls die Kapitalflucht hinausgezögert. Auch ich sehe hier bald eine neue Währung.
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