.Argentina
president says to ditch her dollars
Argentina's
President Cristina Fernandez vowed on Wednesday to stop saving in
dollars and told government officials to follow her example as tight
foreign currency controls spook ordinary savers.
6
June, 2012
Fernandez,
who needs to keep dollars in the country to repay public debt, said
she had decided to lead by example and swap her only
dollar-denominated savings account for a fixed-term deposit in pesos.
"I've
decided to put my savings account into pesos," she said at the
presidential palace besides an image of the country's famous first
lady Evita Peron.
"I'd
urge any officials who've got a few little dollars to do the same
thing," the center-left Peronist leader said.
Fernandez's
administration is battling brisk capital flight and relentless
safe-haven demand for dollars. She wants Argentines to end their love
affair with the greenback and start saving in the country's peso
currency despite high inflation.
Several
close allies of the president called last week for the country to
start "thinking in pesos.
The
near-impossibility of buying dollars at the official rate is driving
some savers and investors to pay a hefty premium in the black market.
Others
are withdrawing dollars from banks and stashing them under the
mattress or in safety deposit boxes, fearing moves by the government
to forcibly "de-dollarize" the economy. Officials have
strongly denied any such plan.
Meanwhile,
the central bank has been snapping up almost all the dollars
available as it seeks to replenish the foreign reserves earmarked for
debt repayments. So far this year, the monetary authority has bought
about $7 billion.
Savers
are notoriously jittery in Latin America's No. 3 economy, where
memories of tight limits on bank withdrawals and a sharp currency
devaluation remain fresh a decade after a devastating economic
crisis.
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