Argentina devalues currency by 50% in ‘shock’ measure against hyperinflation (france 24, 12/13/23)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) — to which Argentina owes $44 billion — welcomed the measures.
“These bold initial actions aim to significantly improve public finances in a manner that protects the most vulnerable in society and strengthen the foreign exchange regime,” the IMF said in a statement.
Caputo announced the exchange rate would slide to 800 pesos to the dollar, from about 391 in recent days, a devaluation of a little over 50 percentThe Argentine government has for years strictly controlled the exchange rate of the peso to the dollar, which analysts have derided as an expensive fiction.
There was no immediate mention of lifting the controls which have birthed a multitude of dollar exchanges and a thriving black-market where the dollar has sold for up to three times the official rate at times.
“The devaluation was much, much more than I think most people had expected,” said Nicolas Saldias, a senior analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit, adding this would have “significant impacts on inflation.”