‘Playing with fire’: Argentinians contemplate radical solution to inflation crisis
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00:00 Month by month, inflation in Argentina beats its own records.
00:03 It reached 12% in September alone and continues to rise.
00:08 "Look, the price tags are written by hand because the prices increase almost daily."
00:12 Since the beginning of the year, the Argentinian peso lost 66% of its value.
00:17 The 1,000 peso bill, the largest in circulation, is now worth only $1.
00:22 "In 2007, that was my wall salary."
00:28 "And now?"
00:30 "Now, with the same bills, I can only buy two or three essentials."
00:34 In order to protect themselves from the peso's collapse, those who can, like Guillermo, convert
00:39 their savings into dollars.
00:41 "Hi, how much is the dollar today?"
00:43 The Argentinian government imposes harsh exchange regulations, so transactions are made on the
00:49 sly, like in the back of this newsstand, converted into a clandestine currency exchange agency.
00:55 "20, 30 or 100 dollars.
01:00 Whenever I can save some money, I convert it.
01:02 And it's not in order to earn money, eh.
01:04 It's in order to not lose more."
01:07 Javier Millet, the libertarian candidate, advocates for a drastic solution to the peso's
01:12 decline.
01:13 If elected, he wants to dollarize the economy and, quote, "blow up" the central bank.
01:19 "170 Argentinian economists are warning about the risks of this proposal.
01:24 Marina del Projeto is one of them."
01:26 "The suggestion of dollarization alone has already worsened the currency crisis and accelerated
01:32 inflation.
01:33 If Millet really manages to do it, even though Argentina has almost no reserves in dollars,
01:39 it would completely destroy the business's remaining capital, create a dizzying drop
01:44 in wages and collapse the whole economy.
01:47 It's playing with fire."
01:50 Argentinians are tired of these recurrent crises and advocate for a change as radical
01:54 as it may be.
01:56 On October 22, Javier Millet has a real chance of advancing to the runoff.
02:00 (growling)