Inflation

[celinaLA]

I totally agree that the inflation is insane!! Ive been here a little over 2 years and my favorite Chicken Sandwich at MamaRacha was 28 pesos, recently was shocked it rose to 38 AND was skimpy on the chicken. The only way eating on 10 pesos a day would even be possible would be a medialuna for breakfast, an empanada for lunch and a slice for dinner..no thanks, not exactly what I left sunny california for... I literally spend aaaaall my money on food, especially because I enjoy eating healthy and I just dont understand how fruit and veggies are so expensive when everything grows here. Limes at 18 pesos a kilo chinatown??? In jumbo there like 30!!! 2 lemons today for 4.50. Why is Salmon at Carrefour $79/kilo and chinatown 49?? I grew up in a hispanic neighborhood in SoCal where limes are 10 x$1, cilantro .30, chicken and sooo many things are so much cheaper. I do love cooking which is a great way to save but not always..you have pick and choose ingredients that are more budge friendly. I honestly do not know how locals with families to support survive.

BA is amazing city but the story changes dramatically when your travelling on dollars or euros vs living here, earning pesos. If it wasnt for a 2 year relationship I would be back in the States and happy to visit with dollars in the bank, living it up. My plan is to bounce once the bf is done with school. In the meantime, unless you want to teach english, heading your own project is the way to go!!

 

[hannstew]

I agree with everyone that the inflation has gone thru the roof in the last year. Were many of you around to remember when the peso was 1X$1.. If you think things are expensive now, it was not even logical to visit then.. I remember when it took U$S 80-100 to fill up the truck with gasoline and a dinner out for 2 was on the upwards scale of $75.. If any of you guys are still around in a couple years, I would like to hear what you thought about these times we are going thru now..

 

[ReemsterCARP]

Actually I think Argentina was cheaper during the 1 on 1 than it is nowadays...

But hey, everything from that era is bad because Menem was in charge, right?

 

[fifs2]

I agree with most posts that those of us who can flee fairly easily have a more laissez-faire attitude to the obvious nightmare that is spiralling prices. I am equally aghast that consumption hasn't diminished..I just look at the cell phones in the office and wonder how people are complaining at how low their salaries are but are spending upwards of $1000 on aq touch screen phone. One guy I met at my son's swimming class - now on his 3rd wife and having bene bankrupt twice - explained to me that Argentines are used to crisis so they spend spend spend and live (and love) for today because who knows what tomorrow will bring. Maybe they aren't building themselve sup for long term success..but they seem to have fun trying!

 

[fifs2]

and during all of these rises..Ugis has now gone down to $9.99 after a high of $14.99 last month. Never eat the stuff but theres one on my corner and I've watched it go from $4 to $14.99 in 6 years and marvelled at Indec's <10% Indec's inflation year on year...

 

[hannstew]

I dont know that things were cheaper then but people were definately better off than they are now.

 

[Ashley]

I agree with everyone that the inflation has gone thru the roof in the last year. Were many of you around to remember when the peso was 1X$1.. If you think things are expensive now, it was not even logical to visit then.. I remember when it took U$S 80-100 to fill up the truck with gasoline and a dinner out for 2 was on the upwards scale of $75.. If any of you guys are still around in a couple years, I would like to hear what you thought about these times we are going thru now..

I was here for 6 months in 2001 on a student exchange programme and food prices were the same as they were in the UK. I have no idea what Argentine salaries in general were like then but a guy I know was earning 15 us$ per hour teaching English so I think it was more in proportion for a lot of people, especially since landlords were more open to renting to foreigners without guarantees - I shared a 2 bedroom flat in Belgrano with a friend and we paid 400 dollars between us all inclusive. I have no idea how english teachers get by now on 25 peso wages...and I'd say that the basic foods I buy here are at least 25% more expensive than in the UK.

 

[Rad]

I was in BsAs in February and March and while things were more expensive than two years ago, food&booze was still around 30% to 40% cheaper than Vancouver. Leather and imported goods were expensive. Real estate went up, but it is still "cheap" when compared to Vancouver, where the average price for a house reached 1 million dollars this March (You can see some million dollar beauties here: http://www.crackshackormansion.com/).
On the other hand, if I had to live on an Argentine salary, I would be packing right now.

 

[perry]

Thank you Chris for stating something that is a myth with many expats and foreigners that Buenos Aires was dearer when it was one to one . It is much dearer now than then . I remember visiting in 1998 and a nice hotel was around US $ 30 dollars a night and meals were around $15 to $18 dollars with wine.

Another strange myth is that property was dearer before 2001 and that they crashed and were cheap as chips. To give an example the neighbourhood of Palermo Soho was dirt cheap in the 1990s and a nice house was around US$ 20,000 to US$50,000 tops.
The crash originally dropped the prices further for a year and then from 2002 they returned to pre crisis levels and in 2003 were dearer than before. There were some bargains the first year of the crash as the already cheap prices for real estate were further discounted as people were desperate for cash . Recoleta Buenos Aires best Barrio very rarely exceeded US $1000 dollars a metre in the 1990s now in 2010 there are properties that are selling for US$ 4000 a metre.

Same with Palermo Soho in 2010 a house in this neighbourhood can range from US$ 400,000 to a US 1,000,000 million dollars a spectatular increase in dollar terms from the 1990s.

The interesting thing was that the financial crash was a great marketing tool for tourism and created a incredible increase in travellers that discovered the beauty of abandoned neighbourhoods like Palermo Viejo and others. Now this neighbourhood is considered one of the most dearest for rental as well as selling prices. Unfortunately this trend will likely continue as Argentinians traditionally buy bricks and mortar as a refuge from inflation and with the added fear of banks and holding huge amount of fiat currencies the projections are upwards.

I do not see inflation dropping unfortunately and predict in the next years that Buenos Aires will be in the 10 ten most expensive cities in the world . It is sad that these cycles are prevalent here but as it is a highly speculative economy and culture it will come to pass.

 

[bloody_bloo]

It will all be cheap again. (in dollars) The question that raises is "when?". Some say that It will happen during Soccer World Cup.