An Argentine abroad challenges President Kirchner over currency controls
(Read article summary)At a Harvard University event, Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner responded with gusto to a question about her government's strict currency controls.
Cambridge, Mass.
When Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner spoke at Harvard University last week, one of the concerns among the Argentines in the audience was her government's far-reaching currency controls and the difficulties they impose on students and travelers going abroad.
One such student, Victoria, traveled from Argentina to study English for three months in Cambridge, Mass. this fall. But she says the fact that she obtained enough US dollars to actually get here was "a miracle."
Between cash she had set aside every month and a gift from her grandfather, she had enough money for a course at Kaplan International. The challenge, Victoria says, came from Argentina's recent currency controls.
In an attempt to keep dollars in Argentina amid a wave of capital flight, the country's tax office in May introduced a series of hurdles for citizens wanting to travel abroad with foreign currency. The government relies on money from the central bank and nationalized pension system to pay international lenders who typically require their payments in international currency.
The Argentine currency is the peso, and just over a decade since the country’s 2001 economic meltdown, dollars are seen as more stable and thus desirable. The lack of confidence many Argentines have in their own currency, highlighted just last year by increased capital flight in the lead up to Ms. Kirchner's October reelection, put those payments at risk.
