Argentina encourages spending by foreign tourists with virtual wallets

Argentina will give an exchange incentive for those foreign tourists make expenses with virtual walletsa measure that seeks to increase the foreign exchange earningsat a time when the South American country needs to increase its monetary reserves.

As resolved this Thursday by the board of directors of the Argentine Central Bank, tourists will be able to pay with electronic wallets at an exchange rate that will be referenced to financial dollars, whose price almost doubles the value of the US currency in the official exchange market.

The measure, which will come into force this Friday, equates the exchange advantage with the one granted since last November to the expenses of foreign tourists with credit and debit cards.

“Foreign operators of these wallets must reach agreements with local administrators to be able to transfer to their financial users the benefit of making payments with QR in businesses throughout the country”said the Central Bank in a statement.

The huge gap between the official value of the dollar and the parallel prices of the currency has led many foreign tourists to travel to Argentina with cash and exchange it in the informal market – currently at 463 pesos per unit (2.05 dollars). , compared to a value of 225 pesos (0.99 dollars) for the purchase in banks and exchange houses-, generating less formal currency income for the country.

The Argentine authorities are betting that a greater liquidation of tourism dollars will increase the accumulation of monetary reserves in the Central Bank, at a time when Argentina is experiencing serious difficulties in complying with the commitment assumed before the International Monetary Fund to add reserves.

In a press conference this Thursday, the spokesperson for the Argentine Presidency, Gabriela Cerruti, said that “all the time” measures are being taken “to see how” the dollars that enter through receptive tourism “Don’t go to the illegal market.”

“Just today they learned of a resolution from the Central Bank in this sense, so that it can be paid with QR, because all that, if not, is something that does not end up strengthening Argentine reserves”he claimed.

Fountain. EFE