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The different prices of the US dollar have been setting record highs for several days, amid the uncertainty of investors about the economic future of the country. And at the macroeconomic level, inflation accumulates a rise of 41.8% in the year.
The legislative elections on Sunday in Argentina have a hidden observer: the financial market. The electoral campaign has sown a mystery that has resulted in a more accelerated devaluation of the local currency in recent days.
In Argentina there is no single type of dollar. Due to exchange restrictions and the various channels to obtain dollars, in this country various quotes coexist with huge gaps between them.
In the foreign exchange market, the price of the US dollar closed on Thursday at a new historical maximum of 99.25 pesos for purchase and 105.25 pesos for sale to the public at the state-owned Banco Nación.
Meanwhile, the wholesale dollar advanced two cents, to a new record of 100.17 pesos per unit for sale, while the price of the informal currency, better known as “blue dollar”, rose 1.50 pesos to a new maximum of 206.5 pesos per unit.
The mounting exchange rate pressures in recent weeks have been fueled by rampant inflation.
Inflation soars again
In Argentina, consumer prices have risen more in ten months than they did in all of 2020. In October 2021, the variation of the consumer price index was 52.1% year-on-year, that is, compared to October of last year.
So far this year, these have grown 41.8%, far exceeding the 36.1% that prices had increased last year, with food and non-alcoholic beverages being the ones that increased the most.
According to the most recent private forecasts that the Central Bank collects monthly, inflation could reach 48.5% by the end of the year and next year it will drop a little to 43.9%.
Whatever the outcome of the November 14 elections, investors’ doubts about the complex future of the economy are far from dissipating.
With EFE and Reuters
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