Free Republic

In a country where real-estate transactions are normally done in cash, even buying a new car can be burdensome and potentially dangerous. Since a new vehicle costs no less than AR$100,000, buyers need to carry at least 1,000 bills, Carrino explains. “You need to take a bag with you.”+ According to the Central Bank of Argentina, two-thirds of the notes in circulation are AR$100 bills. ATMs quickly run out of smaller denomination notes as withdrawal rates increase. “Today, you go to an ATM, and they don’t have AR$50 or AR$20 notes anymore,” Carrino says.+ The Argentinean National Mint has been...

October 2, 2014Linette Lopez Argentina's Merval stock index is down about 7% Thursday after taking an 8% beating Wednesday as well. The selling off is all likely due to Wednesday's news that the country's Central Bank head, Juan Carlos Fabrega, resigned from his post. The rumors that he was out started swirling around in the Argentine media Wednesday morning. Fabrega was in favor of negotiating with the group of hedge fund creditors whose lawsuit for over $1.3 billion in sovereign debt tipped the country into default at the end of July. Reports also indicated that he did not get along...

ReutersSeptember 22, 2014 Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Monday will meet bondholder and billionaire financier George Soros, who is suing a U.S. bank caught in the middle of the country's latest debt default, a government minister said. The meeting comes as Fernandez's leftist government struggles to kick-start growth and contain runaway consumer prices after failing to complete a June interest payment to Soros and other holders of bonds restructured after a previous default. Soros' portfolio also includes a 3.5 percent stake in Argentina's state-controlled energy firm YPF. Buenos Aires has frequently cited the Hungarian-born magnate's investments in the country as...

Tyler Durden 08/26/2014 After spending time in Argentina, BofA's Marcos Buscaglia is concerned... The perception of many locals is that the risks of an economic/currency crisis before year-end have increased significantly. This compares to a view they had before of a muddle-through till the 2015 presidential elections. Policy decision-making is ever more concentrated, and the administration has radicalized, but the severe economic downturn will change political incentives in 2015, in BofA's view. With the official peso rate at record lows once again, the black-market Dolar-Blue tumbled to over 14/USD - a record low indicating dramatic devaluation ahead (which of course,...