Argentina Lets Tourists Tap Parallel FX Rate to Bring in Dollars
- Argentina to charge foreign credit cards at parallel FX rate
- Government seeking to bring more USD through official channels
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Argentina’s government is trying to rake in more tourism dollars and discourage cash use by offering travelers who visit the country a more lucrative exchange rate on card purchases, according to three senior government officials.
Foreign tourists who use non-Argentine issued credit and debit cards will be charged a financial exchange rate known in Spanish as the ‘Dolar MEP’ in Argentina, priced at about 291 pesos per dollar on Wednesday, according to website Rava. That’s much higher than the official rate of 158 pesos per dollar currently applied to foreign card purchases made in Argentina.