New Exchange Rates and a Stabilization Plan

This week the government officialized the “Qatar” and “Coldplay” exchange rates. Two new ARS/USD parities that were advertised in public discourse as the solution to the problem of "external restriction", the heterodox view that Argentina's problem is a lack of dollars. We prefer to say that dollars are lacking at the price that the government wants to pay them at. The Qatar exchange rate consists of adding a withholding that can be used for the personal asset tax and if not used, takes the dollar to 315 pesos. The "Coldplay Dollar", aptly named after the British pop-rock band which recently announced ten shows in Argentina, includes a tax that takes the import parity for hiring foreign artists to just over 200 pesos per dollar.