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After “Coldplay dollar” and “Qatar dollar”, Argentina creates “Malbec dollar” targeting wines

Argentina announced the creation of yet another exchange rate, in an attempt to contain the economic crisis — this time, focused on the national wine market.

Named the “Malbec dollar”, in reference to the grape variety most used in the Argentine drink, the version of the North American currency is intended to increase the competitiveness of Argentine wine and will come into effect from April 1st.

“As of April 1, we will support a mechanism for regional economies, starting with viticulture to recover exports, competitiveness, markets, but also so that they have the opportunity to face the loss that hail and frost represented”, said the Minister of Finance Sergio Massa, in a speech last Saturday (4).

“Just as we started the agro-industrial complex, we will follow up on viticulture”, he declared, referring to the so-called “soy dollar”.

Wine production in Argentina has been affected in recent years by extreme weather conditions, which have brought down revenues for the sector.

“The weather punishes us more and more frequently and has taken away productive areas. There are almost 10,000 fewer vineyards across the country,” said Massa.

“This year we expect a volume lower than 21% compared to the last harvest, which was already scarce. We are also 34% below the levels of the last 10 years.” The data cited by the minister are from the Argentine National Institute of Viticulture (INV).

The value of the Malbec dollar, according to the Argentine authority, will be defined in the next 20 days.

16 types of dollar

The creation of the Malbec dollar follows in the wake of fifteen other changes in the exchange rate — some with unusual names, such as the Coldplay dollar, the Qatar dollar and the Netflix dollar.

Since 2018, Argentina has had a policy in place that restricts the purchase of dollars to keep them in the country, which lacks foreign currency. The measure allows only a few sectors of the economy, generally linked to capital goods and industrial inputs, to have access to the official dollar, at 200 pesos at current exchange rates.

Individuals, who want to use the money for savings or travel, can also buy at this price, but they are limited to just US$ 200 per month.

The “blue” dollar, on the other hand, circulates widely in the country. Despite not being official, the clandestine currency regulates the price market in Argentina and is sold in specialized exchange offices, under the blind eye of Argentine authorities.

See below for more information on the other quotes.

Source: CNN Brasil

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