Argentina Inflation Near 300% Wipes Out Tourists’ Deep Discounts

[MilHojas]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Archived version

 

[Ceviche]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Archived version

Thats good news. We don't want passport bros arriving and thriving here as they do in Medellin. Plus overcrowded airport at EZE and AEP especially when leaving.

 

[Rich One]

No Matter what Bloomberg says. Today the tourists spots like San Telmo interviewed on TV, were all from Brazil, Chile and other countries. Still the exchange seems favorable for them..!!

Pretty simple, Milei removed price controls, every producer raised their prices 300% in December..! inflation jumped to 25 %..!

 

[Rich One]

Chile is passing a regulation to eliminate IVA (19%) on all purchases of goods and services incurred by tourists/Arg. Due to the large influx of Arg. tourists travelling to purchase electronics and garments.

 

[Caribbean Cool]

Chile is passing a regulation to eliminate IVA (19%) on all purchases of goods and services incurred by tourists/Arg. Due to the large influx of Arg. tourists travelling to purchase electronics and garments.

smart

 

[Caribbean Cool]

Good luck finding coffee at ANY price.

 

[FrankPintor]

I got a 1kg bag of Montibello Brazilian coffee beans on ML last week for 31k Pesos, it's 35k this week It's a lot, but there's nothing other than torrado available where I normally shop.

 

[Quilombo]

Chile is passing a regulation to eliminate IVA (19%) on all purchases of goods and services incurred by tourists/Arg. Due to the large influx of Arg. tourists travelling to purchase electronics and garments.

Milei is giving a masterclass in how to not manage money:

- Provincia 25 disappeared, the nickname applied to IVA generated due people from neighboring countries coming shopping here
- Domestic IVA is shrinking because consumption is way down, people are only buying the necessities, and spending is lagging behind inflation
- The dollar is artificially cheap - it was possible to buy MEP dollars for under 1K this week, which means it's cheaper to go shopping in neighboring countries for many goods, and even more so with Chile's proposed legislation

None of this is to say Massa would have been better or worse, simply that Milei and Caputo are doing a shitty job if the plan was anything except shooting yourself in the foot. Their celebration of 11% inflation reminds me of my reaction when the Ks were doing the same with single digits, it's nothing to celebrate, it's tone deaf and all it means is that prices are increasing slower, not that they're going back to what was reasonable or cheap.

 

[Stephano]

Milei is giving a masterclass in how to not manage money:

- Provincia 25 disappeared, the nickname applied to IVA generated due people from neighboring countries coming shopping here
- Domestic IVA is shrinking because consumption is way down, people are only buying the necessities, and spending is lagging behind inflation
- The dollar is artificially cheap - it was possible to buy MEP dollars for under 1K this week, which means it's cheaper to go shopping in neighboring countries for many goods, and even more so with Chile's proposed legislation

None of this is to say Massa would have been better or worse, simply that Milei and Caputo are doing a shitty job if the plan was anything except shooting yourself in the foot. Their celebration of 11% inflation reminds me of my reaction when the Ks were doing the same with single digits, it's nothing to celebrate, it's tone deaf and all it means is that prices are increasing slower, not that they're going back to what was reasonable or cheap.

This is what puzzles me: inflation was (officially) ~130% before Milei took office, then with peso devaluation and the massive increases it shot to 250%. Now a few weeks after, having destroyed demand and kept the peso artificially strong against USD and other currencies (thus losing competitiveness) the inflation is down 11% monthly, that is back around ~130% and this is cause for celebration? I am certainly missing something here, and hopefully this is just the beginning of the inflation slowdown, but as you said, prices will never go back to where they were.

 

[Caribbean Cool]

Good luck finding coffee at ANY price.

And just to keep it interesting a loaf of plain old Bimbo white bread.....$4.70 That is just weird.