Hidéo Nakamura Hey! Here’s some cool news about Latin America that happened last week. Bolivia just passed a law so they can now sell gold for dollars, the Central Bank of Argentina banned people from using cryptocurrency with fintech companies, and Fitch improved El Salvador’s credit rating.
Bolivian Government Acts Quickly to Increase Dollar Reserves with Gold Sale
Bolivia recently passed a law that allows them to sell some of their gold reserves for dollars, which is helpful for decreasing the lack of dollars in the country. The law grants permission to the government to sort an agreement with buyers when it comes to selling 22 tons out of the 44 tons of gold they have stored away.
The Bolivian president Luis Arce’s party recently passed a law which was proposed in 2021. The presidential spokesperson, Jorge Richter, explained why this was done so quickly. He said that it will help prevent problems with getting or producing American money in the future.
The people in Bolivia could only take out $300 every day from the banks, so the Central Bank of Bolivia set up a system to let them buy foreign currency with ease.
Argentina’s Central Bank Shocks Fintechs with Ban on Cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets
On May 4th, the Central Bank of Argentina announced that certain fintech companies are not allowed to use cryptocurrencies or provide any services related to digital assets or other kinds of assets that are not approved by the Central Bank.
Certain fintech companies such as Ualá, MercadoPago, Personal Pay, DolarApp, Nubi and MODO will have to make changes due to this new measure taken by the central bank. Bitcoin Argentina group has said that they are surprised and didn’t understand why the central bank decided to prohibit activities that were already fulfilling their clients’ needs.
El Salvador’s Financial Turnaround
Fitch Ratings, one of the three biggest companies who help judge if countries can be trusted to pay back money, upgraded El Salvador’s credit score even though they started using bitcoin as a form of payment. The upgrade from CC to CCC+ is because Fitch believes that El Salvador has successfully paid part of their debt, and it does not look like they will fail to pay again in the near future.
The Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele was so excited about recent changes that he wanted the Fitch ratings to improve even further when they announced their budget surplus for 2024.
So, what do you think of the events happening in Latin America this week? Let us know in the comment section below.
