Tourists to Argentina set to benefit from new exchange rate

By DANIEL POLITI
Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — In recent years, a moment often came when a visitor to Argentina suddenly grasped they could have gotten a lot more bang for their bucks if only they had brought cash to buy pesos on the unofficial market. The dollar sometimes was worth double in informal dealings than what the official exchange rate allowed for purchases with a credit or debit card through the banking system. That should, at least in theory, be a thing of the past as of Friday. The government has implemented a new regulation allowing visitors to the South American country using credit and debit cards to obtain an exchange rate that will cut what they spend here by half in dollar terms.