All self-inflicted wounds. Argentinians could have a stable currency and a thriving, functional economy - there's nothing structural that's stopping them. But they choose not to, and have been making this choice for they last 100 years or so. It's a true pity.
Argentina's Currency Black Market
11–20 of 114 posts
Re: Argentina's Currency Black Market
#12Venezuela's official rate has been about 1/5 of the black market rate for many years. I remember my wife shooing me into a corner at the airport while she traded dollars for bolivares with the security guards. The differential has caused all kinds of effects. Plane tickets are hard to come by because so many people take advantage of the spread by flying somewhere, buying goods at official, returning for cash then tra…
Right now the official rate is Bs.6.3 per dollar. The black market rate is just getting to Bs. 50/$.
Thats one of the reasons we are set to have a 50% inflation rate this year.
My monthly salary has withered away and as an engineer I'm making just over $200/mo.
Re: Argentina's Currency Black Market
#13I've been living in Buenos Aires for over 4 years now. The secret for infinite money basically is selling Bitcoins to USD and then selling the USD to Ar$ Pesos. Right now 1 USD = 10.10 Ar Pesos. Here are some references: 1 Bus ticket from 1.50 to 3 Pesos. 1 Bic Mac about 45 pesos. 1 Coca Cola 8 or 9 pesos. 1 Dinner in a medium to fancy restaurant 150 pesos (200+ if you drink wine). If any hacker is in town, let me kn…
How do you get the $ to buy bit coins? I've been thinking about doing that in Venezuela but we only get $400 per year for online purchases.
Re: Argentina's Currency Black Market
#14I remember this little joke about Argentine inflation: It's cheaper to take a taxi than a bus, because in a taxi you pay at the end of the trip.
Re: Argentina's Currency Black Market
#15I'm wondering about some of these citations: --SNIP-- According to the latest figures, Argentina's Central bank is losing US$ 47.5 million each day from their international reserves. This is the same as US$ 8 million every hour. -- SNIP --
Citation here: http://en.mercopress.com/2013/10/21/argentine-central-bank-l...
We'll add a link to this in the post now.
Re: Argentina's Currency Black Market
#16Venezuela's official rate has been about 1/5 of the black market rate for many years. I remember my wife shooing me into a corner at the airport while she traded dollars for bolivares with the security guards. The differential has caused all kinds of effects. Plane tickets are hard to come by because so many people take advantage of the spread by flying somewhere, buying goods at official, returning for cash then tra…
I took a trip there in 2011 and 1/5 sounds a little off for what tourists could get. Officially at the time $1 would get about 4.5 bolivars. Unofficially, we could get around 7-9 bolivars per $1. We were pissed because we didn't know about the exchange rate issues or the ATM restrictions. We ended up going to a bank every day to withdraw the max on 3 different cards. Probably would have saved about $60/day if we had…
You will always find a Venezuelan who needs or knows somebody who needs to buy dollars at the black market rates! Anyone who comes to Venezuela and exchanges their dollars at the official rate is getting robbed. Of course it can be scary as a tourist if you don't know anyone here.
Re: Argentina's Currency Black Market
#17I've been living in Buenos Aires for over 4 years now. The secret for infinite money basically is selling Bitcoins to USD and then selling the USD to Ar$ Pesos. Right now 1 USD = 10.10 Ar Pesos. Here are some references: 1 Bus ticket from 1.50 to 3 Pesos. 1 Bic Mac about 45 pesos. 1 Coca Cola 8 or 9 pesos. 1 Dinner in a medium to fancy restaurant 150 pesos (200+ if you drink wine). If any hacker is in town, let me kn…
> The secret for infinite money basically is selling Bitcoins to USD and then selling the USD to Ar$ Pesos. Bitcoins are free?
No, you pay them with your electricity bill.
Re: Argentina's Currency Black Market
#18I'm wondering about some of these citations: --SNIP-- According to the latest figures, Argentina's Central bank is losing US$ 47.5 million each day from their international reserves. This is the same as US$ 8 million every hour. -- SNIP --
Citation here: http://en.mercopress.com/2013/10/21/argentine-central-bank-l... We'll add a link to this in the post now.
That doesn't mean it makes sense. $47.5 million/day being the same as $8 million/hour implies that there are 5.9375 hours per day.
Re: Argentina's Currency Black Market
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
I took a trip there in 2011 and 1/5 sounds a little off for what tourists could get. Officially at the time $1 would get about 4.5 bolivars. Unofficially, we could get around 7-9 bolivars per $1. We were pissed because we didn't know about the exchange rate issues or the ATM restrictions. We ended up going to a bank every day to withdraw the max on 3 different cards. Probably would have saved about $60/day if we had…
You will always find a Venezuelan who needs or knows somebody who needs to buy dollars at the black market rates! Anyone who comes to Venezuela and exchanges their dollars at the official rate is getting robbed. Of course it can be scary as a tourist if you don't know anyone here.
It wasn't by choice. We only had $100 in our pockets because we didn't know. In most countries I had been to, its easier to use a card to pay for stuff rather than exchange cash. I figured it would be the same way in Venezuela, I just didn't know.
Re: Argentina's Currency Black Market
#20At various locations, large value foreign bills can be exchanged at a rate significantly above the market here in Bangkok. (Obviously, normally a physical exchange business buys below and sells above. In this case they buy above... presumably because certain clients they onsell to want a physically compact means of storing or transmitting a internationally recognized, relatively (to local currency) stable store of value in a semi-anonymous way.)