Is Buenos Aires Still Cheap With Usd?

My wife and I spend 3 or 4 months a year in Bs. As. About four years ago, our daily budget for going out for breakfast, lunch and dinner was $100 dollars. I tracked our spending daily . . . and after a few weeks realized we were averaging $70 a day. In 2016, visiting the same restaurants, I had a hard time spending less than $100 dollars per day. Definitely BA has become MUCH more expensive. My ABL tax has shot up dramatically, but the value of a dollar has not. CAble TV and Internet? The price is way up too, as are the prices of all utilities, all in dollar terms.

Here's another comparison. The other day we went out for lunch and dinner in Orange, California and I noticed we spent $55 dollars. Had we gone for breakfast, add another $20. This total is far less than what we were spending in BA last year.

BA has gotten expensive compared to what it was a few years ago.
 
Argentina is not cheap anymore.. The people of Argentina will keep paying whatever company asks because they have no choice to try products from overseas at better prices. Welcome to Utopia.
 
DID IT INCLUDE A PINT OF GUINNESS?

I wish..just chips and a drink...It was belfast airport..maybe they add a premium to eat in a large clinical environment under pressure of catching a flight...
 
My wife and I spend 3 or 4 months a year in Bs. As. About four years ago, our daily budget for going out for breakfast, lunch and dinner was $100 dollars. I tracked our spending daily . . . and after a few weeks realized we were averaging $70 a day. In 2016, visiting the same restaurants, I had a hard time spending less than $100 dollars per day. Definitely BA has become MUCH more expensive. My ABL tax has shot up dramatically, but the value of a dollar has not. CAble TV and Internet? The price is way up too, as are the prices of all utilities, all in dollar terms.

Here's another comparison. The other day we went out for lunch and dinner in Orange, California and I noticed we spent $55 dollars. Had we gone for breakfast, add another $20. This total is far less than what we were spending in BA last year.

BA has gotten expensive compared to what it was a few years ago.
$55US for lunch and dinner for 2 in California????? MacDonald's?

T/
 
Wine (the kind you find in supermarkets/chinos) is still relatively cheap. At least it was in December, when I left. Taxis, too, are still a comparative bargain. Not that they're so cheap in BsAs, but they're astronomical everywhere else.
Ah yes. "Not that they're so cheap in BsAs, but they're astronomical everywhere else." Prices are going up all over the world. When a person is on a fixed income it does seem very expensive here. It was many times more expensive for me in Seattle than here. Wine, dinner, labor, etc. Very, very, very expensive in Seattle........Expensive here.

T/
 
I went to Kansas restaurant last night (US$25 for a full steak meal and pint of beer), high-end Rosa Negra in San Ysidro night before ($25 for nice seafood risotto dish with a glass of wine), filled the gas tank for my fiancée, ($50), paid my basic Cable TV.internet/phone monthly bill (90), bought 30 tabs of 5 mg Cialis (90 - which in US would cost 300)..... I have been coming to Bs As off and on for the past 40 years and bought an apt here 10 years ago.
Gone are the days of the $5 steak dinner and $1/ hour maid that had been prevalent in the past 20 years. Prices now approach but are still somewhat less than prices prevailing in major US and European capitols. You can still eat out well a for a lot less than in NY (where I reside part-time), Bs As taxis are still a heck of a lot cheaper and so is housing (not top end hotels). My NY maid is 25/hour. My Bs As maid is 6 (and I pay top dollar). Imported high end clothes and electro domesticos remain relatively expensive as they always were driven by import duties.
In short, tourists with USD will not find BS As expensive because things tourists spend their money on (rented apts/taxis/restaurant) are still comparatively low priced. However, if you found Spain expensive in the past year even with the very strong USD vs the euro, you might feel otherwise - but then everywhere will be expensive for you.
 
there is no question that inflation in Argentina has been running 20% to 40% a year for the last few years.
everything costs more, and it is no longer "cheap".
Whether its cheaper than where you live, depends on where you live.
Its still cheaper than most major US cities.

Some things are still very cheap- my utilities and real estate taxes are a fraction of what I pay in the USA.
taxis, as mentioned, are cheap. Buses and the subway are practically free. I ride for a week on what two rides in Seattle would cost me.
All imports are silly expensive- Argentina is still, as far as I know, the highest in the world for Apple products, and cars are roughly double what they cost in the USA, for the same new vehicle. Just the other night heard of a friends uncle who just spent $65,000 or so, cash, USD, for a Mini Cooper that sells for under $30k in the USA.

higher quality goods that are made in Argentina are a bargain- leather, shoes, some clothing, craft items like knives or jewelry, furniture, eyeglasses frames, things like that.

curiously, beer has risen to close to US prices, especially microbrews. Wine, and locally made hard liquor is very reasonable.
I drink both Fernet and Campari- and both cost about 1/4 the price here as in Washington State.

I still find better restaurants to be very good value for the money- usually about half of Seattle prices.

Many cheap imported things in the states are expensive imported things here.

I try to buy local, industria argentina, as much as possible.
 
BA hasn't been cheap for ages. I think you caught the end of it in 2011. A bad cafe con leche will run you $3 or so at an average cafe. Many places in Europe are cheaper now. This inflation bubble is out of control.
 
BA hasn't been cheap for ages. I think you caught the end of it in 2011. A bad cafe con leche will run you $3 or so at an average cafe. Many places in Europe are cheaper now. This inflation bubble is out of control.


The good thing is that bubbles burst overnight!
 
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