Argentina Cracks as Peso Plunge Raises Risk of Messy Devaluation
- Policymakers’ options look bad as bets on devaluation grow
- Government’s desperate moves to shore up peso aren’t working
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Argentina is moving closer to a breaking point as the government’s desperate measures fail to halt a plunge in the peso, raising the risk of a currency devaluation that President Alberto Fernandez pledged would never happen.
The government is said to be stepping up pressure on brokerages, demanding reports on trading in the parallel exchange market and launching an investigation into a firm that said a devaluation was imminent. The peso tumbled 13% last week in that alternative market used to skirt currency controls, while data showed consumer prices surging 104% in March, the fastest in three decades.