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Weekly Report - 31 May 2012 (WR-12-21)

ARGENTINA: FX corral expands and threatens travel

Following the re-nationalisation of Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF) [WR-12-15], tentative foreign investors in Argentina consider putting their money there as nothing short of a gamble. And gambling is exactly what some Argentines are doing to get their hands on foreign currency, particularly US dollars (US$). A source in Uruguay has told Latin News that, as the Argentine government’s foreign-exchange controls become stricter, Argentines are travelling to Uruguay’s largest casinos, buying chips in Argentine pesos and, without betting a penny, cashing out in US$. A common Spanish saying holds that ‘hecha la regla, hecha la trampa’ (roughly, ‘when the law is made, so is the way to evade it’); as the government of President Cristina Fernández clamps down on the greenback, Argentines will become increasingly ingenious to circumvent the controls without breaking the law.

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