Argentina’s artificially overvalued peso is fuelling overseas shopping sprees that are rapidly depleting the country’s foreign currency reserves.
Though President Javier Milei has gradually weakened the peso in order to court foreign investment, the currency’s official value remains far from its black market rate, feeding an import boom: The purchases of Argentinian bank cards in neighboring Chile have increased 438% this year, while Argentines have loaded up on Jordan-brand sneakers and Zara jeans.
The US recently offered a $20-billion loan to boost dollar reserves, a move lauded even by some of the Trump administration’s critics. “The bailout is a wise and generous risk,” David Frum wrote in The Atlantic. “May it proceed and may it succeed.”