Blue dollar skyrocketing: companies that started in Uruguay and Brazil to get the most out of “Argentina as a gift”

With the blue dollar jumping 100 pesos in the last 20 days – from $ 238 to $ 338 which closed on Friday – most Argentines are trying to protect their income. But in neighboring countries they count and generate new business from the exchange rate gap.

It was seen days ago with pictures of Bolivian shoppers crossing the border with huge wheelbarrows full of bags of flour. Y Paraguay’s neighbors have been accused of being responsible for leaving Argentine hauliers without diesel for coming to buy cheap fuel.

Now, in the middle of the winter holidays, the tourism of the neighboring villages is celebrating:

Other flights from Brazil to Bariloche and Salta

Brazilians have seen how the real has been devalued against the dollar in recent months and Argentina has remained that way. one of the few places where instead of losing acquire purchasing power. Brazilians account for a quarter of tourists arriving by plane in the country.

According to Inprotur, the body that regulates the tourism sector in the neighboring country, the airlines are offering 162 flights weekly between the two destinations, and calculates that until December they will grow by 32%, up to 214 weekly frequenciesas published by Estadao.

An investigation of the Decolar site (Despegar’s Brazilian branch) showed that since the borders were opened in October 2021 searches for packages to travel to Argentina grew by 200%, with Buenos Aires, Bariloche, Mendoza, Ushuaia and Córdoba in the lead

“Reduced exchange rate” for traveling to Argentina

The CVC company, parent company of the local Almundo, launched a promo which it called “reduced exchange rate” for Brazilians to fly to Argentine destinations and, in addition, added more cardsfrom San Pablo, Rio and Porto Alegre to Bariloche and Salta (where it offers a free second passenger).

CVC lower the exchange rate for Argentine destinations and offers exclusive flights to Bariloche and Salta, with departures until August from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre. In practice, the company is based on the opening exchange rate of the day and offers, on a daily basis, a more attractive condition for your customers. It offered the dollar at 5.42 reais on Friday.

Western Union and the “tourist exchange”

Western Union, which bought Pago Fácil in Argentina 15 years ago, found a vein in the currency gap to acquire customers in Brazil. And the capillarity of the premises they have in Argentina allows them to do so function as a kind of trading house.

As explained this week by Ricardo Amaral, the number one company in the neighboring country, to the Brazilian press, the company uses the exchange rate called “blue chip swap” (counted with liqui). “That’s why, while a real is worth around 24 pesos at the official exchange rate, Western Union paid around 56 pesos earlier this week.”

The recent “discovery” of the company by Brazilian travelers as a possibility to exchange currency in Argentina was favored by the possibility of paying through Pix, the free public digital payment system of the Central Bank of Brazil launched last November that allows you to pay and receive money for free and automatically. With Pix, customers can withdraw money at any point that offers the service (shops and ATMs).

The app with which Uruguayans make the difference

No trees or changes in the hotels and not having to queue at banks to access the new “tourist dollar”, Uruguayans use the services of a fintech called Prex, which was purchased by Itaú-Unibanco in April.

It’s a prepaid international card, to which dollars are charged in Uruguay, which in Argentina are converted into pesos at the “contado con liqui” exchange rate. It’s 100% digital, free, with no maintenance or renewal costs, and works anywhere in the world that accepts Mastercard. Cash can also be withdrawn, which is why some Argentines use it to bring foreign currency into the country. You have to keep in mind that you have a usage limit of US $ 10,000 per year.

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