Prices, Pesos, Dollars

[jeff1234]

I'd appreciate the expats who are more knowledgeable in Argie economics than me could give me an update on the cost of living.
I haven't been keeping any records but it seems to me that restaurants, taxis, groceries, etc just keep going up. I'd guess 3% per month, 20% in the last 6 months and 60% in the last 18 months. Again, its just my gut feel.
At the same time the peso seems to have steadied against the dollar. It quickly fell from 8:1 to 10:1 to 12:1 but it seems like its been at 14-15:1 for quite awhile.
If this is true, almost a year after Marcri was elected, it seems like everyone is continuing to be hurt by insane inflation and the expats are being hurt the strengthening peso.
WTF??!!

 

[John Doe]

Argentina's inflation rate for 2016 is a mere 35 per cent. Venezuela's inflation, this year is 480 per cent. Next year, their inflation rate is predicted to be 1640 per cent. Celebrate !!

Google www numbeo is find out the cost of living in almost any World city. You can also compare the costs of 2 cities between 2 cities.

 

[jeff1234]

Argentina's inflation rate for 2016 is a mere 35 per cent. Venezuela's inflation, this year is 480 per cent. Next year, their inflation rate is predicted to be 1640 per cent. Celebrate !!

Google www numbeo is find out the cost of living in almost any World city. You can also compare the costs of 2 cities between 2 cities.

Thats wonderful. You should take me out for a nice dinner to celebrate how well our economy is doing compared to Venezuela.

 

[garryl]

The time now is worse for expats who have dollars than the K time. I heard there are 4000 containers stuck in Argentine custom for 6 months. Many of them will not ever be retrieved by the owners. Now you know why things are expensive in Argentina. Biz people are suffering big loss fighting against bureaucrats. During the K time, you can bribe someone to make your containers pass the custom, now you can't do anything. Argentine people have to suffer for lack of import supplies.

The Macri government is using the same trick that Chinese government use to keep the blue dollar rate low. Chinese gov has been doing that for years. Keep the rate steady, and printing the hell of their own currencies. This makes every citizen want to consume outside the country. This process will eventually cause the economy to collapse, but before that happens, it will be a painful process. We only have a small handful of expats now, not sure how long they can hang on.

There is a very large American expats group in Paris. They have the same problem like in BsAs, old building hard to repair, high tax and rental restriction. But at least the currency is good and market is open.

 

[jeff1234]

The time now is worse for expats who have dollars than the K time. I heard there are 4000 containers stuck in Argentine custom for 6 months. Many of them will not ever be retrieved by the owners. Now you know why things are expensive in Argentina. Biz people are suffering big loss fighting against bureaucrats. During the K time, you can bribe someone to make your containers pass the custom, now you can't do anything. Argentine people have to suffer for lack of import supplies.

The Macri government is using the same trick that Chinese government use to keep the blue dollar rate low. Chinese gov has been doing that for years. Keep the rate steady, and printing the hell of their own currencies. This makes every citizen want to consume outside the country. This process will eventually cause the economy to collapse, but before that happens, it will be a painful process. We only have a small handful of expats now, not sure how long they can hang on.

There is a very large American expats group in Paris. They have the same problem like in BsAs, old building hard to repair, high tax and rental restriction. But at least the currency is good and market is open.

If they are printing alot of money why isn't the peso falling more rapidly?

 

[sergio]

Jeff, these are very basic questions. You must be new to Argentina. The Herald reports that inflation will be about 42% this year. The peso and the dollar are stable so, yes, the situation is very bad for anyone dependent on changing dollars for pesos. It won't be long before prices are totally out of sight. Already many things exceed prices in the US or Europe.

 

[Churchill]

Bad enough for those earning in dollars but for us poor bastards earning in pounds this has been a nightmare last 12/24 months!

 

[jeff1234]

Jeff, these are very basic questions. You must be new to Argentina. The Herald reports that inflation will be about 42% this year. The peso and the dollar are stable so, yes, the situation is very bad for anyone dependent on changing dollars for pesos. It won't be long before prices are totally out of sight. Already many things exceed prices in the US or Europe.

I've been here for 4 years. Its my (unscientific) impression that while my wifes peso salary constantly lost value, at least the dollars I brought in purchased more and more pesos. Until now.

 

[semigoodlookin]

Bad enough for those earning in dollars but for us poor bastards earning in pounds this has been a nightmare last 12/24 months!

Yep, its down to 18. something now I think. I have taken a bashing this year especially with the prices really escalating here.

 

[Noesdeayer]

garryl
I don´t doubt what you say but could you be more specific by what you mean by ¨¨ lack of import supplies¨?
sergio This time around I wouldn´t be too hasty about prices being ¨totally out of sight¨.
During the¨ öne to one ¨with the dollar equal to the peso the Argentine COL was almost as expensive as the US for some things but not for others.You definitely have to ¨shop around¨¨.Of course,I was working a lot then and I don´t recall knowing any US or UK retirees here living on a fixed income.
Also,Argentines will have to finally learn to simply not buy items that are obviously way overpriced and to complain loudly to businesses that overprice.Consumer protection practices will have to become more common place then they were in the ´90s.
Nonetheless,I would think that the Argentina as a foreign retirees´ bargain haven is most likely going to come to an end.