Despite the pope is Argentine and on Monday he will be making his first pastoral trip overseas to Brazil, Argentine government strict currency controls are making it difficult for prospective pilgrims to travel. An estimated 60.000 Argentines are expected to travel to Rio do Janeiro for the grand event.
The Argentine government is further tightening the US dollar clamp. On Thursday the Central bank announced that state-run banks and agencies will be the only ones officially allowed to operate foreign currency exchange offices in airports and ports.
Real estate sales in Buenos Aires City dropped for the eighth month running in July and 27.6% over a year ago because of the US dollar clamp according to the monthly evolution index of sales documents from the Notaries College of the Argentine capital.
The Argentine real estate market has witnessed stunning growth over the last decade but growth of the sector appears to have come to an abrupt and dramatic end in the seven months of this year.
Uruguay needs “new markets and new partners” and must try to diversify trade with the largest possible number of agreements to make Mercosur more flexible and anticipate the current process in Argentina, said President Jose Mujica.
Credit card companies operating in Argentina have also fallen under the net work of the tax office AFIP, and now must request authorization and approval to purchase US dollars to balance their clients’ accounts.
An Argentine businessman who was sentenced in Uruguay to home arrest following a car accident in which one person died remains at the location of the crime because his family in Argentina have been unable to purchase the 5.000 US dollars bail needed for his release.
Morgan Stanley has cut its 2012-13 growth forecasts for Argentina and forecasts a sharp devaluation of the Argentine peso next year as the economy starts to unravel amid high inflation and policy missteps.
Following the official new curbs on US dollar purchasing for savers, the head of the Argentine Central Bank Mercedes Marcó del Pont came on stage to defend the measure and anticipate that operations in the real estate market will have to be done in Argentine Pesos.
The Argentine Central Bank announced on Thursday it will officially ban the purchase of dollars for savings, the latest in a series of measures to discourage the buying of greenbacks.