Paypal Will Stop Argentine Users From Making Domestic Transactions, International Transactions Still Allowed
Paypal, a recognized online payment service, has announced that from October 9 this year, Argentine users will not be able to make any domestic transactions but can continue to make international transactions.
In expressing their apologies for the inconvenience that this might cause, a statement sent to the BBC by Paypal, announced, “Argentina is a very important market to us as we expand our global footprint, and we are currently very focused on providing Argentine merchants and consumers the best possible service. Paypal customers in Argentina are still able to utilise Paypal for international transactions with 190 markets around the world.”
With the Argentine government announcing a restriction on the number of dollars being purchased, this has increased currency sales in the black market. However, the rates provided by Paypal are much better and this is why users are creating two accounts under different email addresses, and transferring money between them so as to exchange the local currency pesos against dollars.
Put simply, the dollar costs 6.3 pesos on the black market while the same can be obtained for about 4.7 pesos.
These measures taken by the government is to combat money laundering and tax evasion but also ensure that the economy is less dependent on the dollar. This stems from a prevailing lack of confidence on the local currency which is not as stable other currencies – a large reason why people are protecting their savings from instability by investing it into far more stable currencies.
An economist told BBC that these economic restrictions, quite literally, includes every economic activity and has been extending to imports and foreign travel.