Argentina: The ‘Walking Dead’: Dealing with the economic collapse - by Veronique de Miguel

If today you were to arrive in Argentina with a 10 dollar bill in your hand, you would experience scenes similar to a “Walking Dead” episode. Immediately, tens of people – including the government – would perceive the green breath of life in your pocket and pursue you with one single intention: obtaining your dollar bill. 

Jokes aside, the economic collapse in Argentina, and in particular its eternal romance with the American dollar, is at its maximum boiling point and ready to explode. Like millions of Argentines, I have to deal with this chaotic period, uncertainties, unknowns and a super-inflation that makes a visit to the grocery store an adventure full of unpleasant surprises with the unexpected rise in price of absolutely everything. And don’t get me started on lines of credit or plans for future payments.

The average Argentine is so used to distrusting his own currency that it was a tradition to save one’s money in dollars, until the government banned this practice. The people continued doing it, of course, except they started to buy much more expensive black market dollars in exchange caves. The summary of the current situation is that the government intends to remedy the fall of reserves with currency printing, which is not supported in the same way by the dollar. The calculation is simple, many more pesos and fewer dollars in reserve to support them, means more pesos needed for each dollar. This is called devaluation, and it’s making a lot of people very upset.

The average citizen suffers in this financial mess. Still, President Cristina Fernández denies any economic crisis is present even when, among other measures, the government has announced a freeze on prices of commodities.

Despite big ads on storefronts, those products are often missing from the shelves of supermarkets. It is common to see posters in empty shelves announcing that you are allowed to buy only item per person.

Prices of all products constantly increase day by day. Consequently, the consumption of some basic items like bread, milk and other similar items is falling at an alarming rate. People don’t buy bread – as it is a very expensive good now – and have to get along with crackers. The price of vegetables has almost become a state matter.


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