It's difficult to know who to trust in Argentina when it comes to exchanging dollars for pesos. From the sidewalk barkers on Florida Street screaming “Cambio…cambio…” to the scattered exchange shops and you have to convince the guard at the door that you're really a legitimate customer and not a “gringo” there to attempt to rip anyone off.
Argentina doesn't do anything to make the process easier.
“Dissociative identity disorder” or split-personality applies to South America's 2nd largest country. With inflation running between 45% - 55%, the Argentine government keeps begging for dollars like a mendigo in one of the many villas surrounding the Capital, Buenos Aires. Yet, while wanting dollars, the government does everything it can to keep American dollars out.
Most nations have an upper limit to the amount of dollars that may be brought in. That's okay. It's one way to stymie drug dealers. Try to get over a certain limit, say, $10,000(USD) with a wire transfer and the paperwork alone is responsible for six-more trees giving up their life.
Argentina has lowered that limit to $200. Yes. $200USD. Exceed that, and you'll spend two-weeks shuffling paperwork and writing an explanation: the money came from, who sent it and why you are receiving it.
The latest idea of the government is to ban the sale or exchange of “old” American currency and only accept "new" currency.
Maximiliano Karpowicz, a friend here in Buenos Aires, who also owns Garbin Estate winery in Mendoza, a health food shop on Teodoro Garcia and a ‘cambio' (money exchange) service first clued me in on Argentina's love/hate relationship with American dollars.
The ‘new' American money first appeared in October 2013. The 'upgraded' bills incorporated advanced anti-counterfeiting features and replaced the ‘old' bills, which had been used since 1934. "U.S. officials have said the $100 note is the most frequently counterfeited denomination of U.S. currency outside the United States due to its broad circulation overseas."
What is a good salary in Argentina?
Fernando Locatelli, an Argentine actor and director, writes: “It depends on which city you live in, and in which neighborhood (the cost of living changes in each place). It also depends on what you consider something indispensable and what not, and if you live alone, or have a family. Where I live, a family of 4 people, I think I can only live more or less well (not well) with about $ 100,000 (written on January 22, 2020). That can vary if you pay rent for a house, if your children go to public school, etc.”
Even if you can get all that figured out, you can count on economic problems in the country.
Why does Argentina suffer from so many economic problems?
Argentina's economy relies on exporting a handful of agricultural products - soybeans, corn, and beef being the main ones right now. This leaves Argentina's economy at the mercy of agricultural prices, which give ‘volatile' new meaning. If those prices have a good year, then so does Argentina. If prices collapse by 20%, then Argentina's economy will collapse as well.
Except Argentina's economy hasn't actually collapsed in the same way that other single export commodity countries have. The way that Argentina has avoided this is by taking on large amounts of foreign debt to buffer the years with low agricultural prices. Unfortunately for Argentina, all this has done is to create another form of economic collapse in which it can become trapped.
