Argentine Peso Plummets as Presidential Candidate Milei Compares It to Excrement, Gets Accused of Causing Bank Run

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The Argentine Peso has plummeted to record lows after Javier Milei, the presidential candidate that several polls give as the winner in the upcoming elections, said its value was lower than excrement. Milei, who has proposed to dollarize the country, ending the central bank, has been accused of “public intimidation” by President Alberto Fernandez.

Milei Compares Argentine Peso to Excrement

The Argentine peso has plummeted to record lows after presidential candidate Javier Milei railed against the national currency, comparing it to excrement. Milei, projected as the winner in the upcoming elections, declared that citizens should not put their savings in peso-based fixed-term instruments, inviting them to save in dollars during a radio interview.

During the interview, Milei stated:

The peso is the currency issued by the Argentine politician and therefore cannot even be worth excrement, because that garbage is not even useful for fertilizer.

After Milei’s statements, the Argentine peso plummeted to reach 1,050 pesos per dollar, breaching the 1,000-peso-per-dollar level for the first time in the country’s history.

Milei, who has proposed the dollarization of the Argentine economy and the elimination of the Central Bank of Argentina as part of the government plan of his administration, declared last week that if dollar prices got higher, this task would be easier to complete. He explained:

The higher the price of the dollar, the easier it is to dollarize. Eliminating the Central [Bank] is an immovable policy because we believe that there is a moral issue, that stealing is wrong.

Bank Run Legal Complaints

President Alberto Fernandez presented a legal complaint against Milei on the charges of public intimidation, accusing him of causing a public disturbance that caused Argentines to take out their peso savings and exchange them for dollars. The legal complaint stresses that, after Milei’s statements, the population “was afraid of the real possibility that our currency, the peso, would not maintain its value and continue to be the monetary sign of the country.”

Another complaint was presented by attorney Valeria Carreras, who believes Milei’s statements were directed to create a devaluation effect. “Today we are 30% more impoverished by these statements because the dollar has skyrocketed and is dragging down the entire economy,” she stated.

However, Milei disregarded these accusations, saying his opinion was directed to help Argentines keep their purchasing power. In a press conference, Milei stated:

In an economy with inflation, telling Argentines to stay in pesos is condemning them to poverty, it is destroying their savings.

What do you think about the collapse of the Argentine peso and Milei’s dollarization plan? Tell us in the comments section below.