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News > Latin America

Argentina: How Buenos Aires Barter Clubs 'Pay' For Basic Goods

  • Women from the San Miguel barter group trade basic goods in a local market in Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 15, 2018.

    Women from the San Miguel barter group trade basic goods in a local market in Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 15, 2018. | Photo: Reuters

Published 6 July 2018
Opinion

Tens of thousands of people in Buenos Aires suburbs are joining barter clubs in order to access basic foods as the country teeters on the brink of recession.

Barter clubs are popping up in the suburbs of Buenos Aires as a novel way of combating Argentina's sky-high interest rates, devalued peso and nine percent unemployment.

RELATED: 
Study: Nearly Half of Argentina's Children Live in Poverty

In an abandoned train station in working-class San Miguel, hundreds of Argentines – mostly women with kids in tow – carry cardboard signs bearing their names in order to meet up with people they've agreed to trade goods with via a Facebook forum.

Most are trading clothes, rice, flour and sugar – the staples, says Cecilia Gomez, whose husband lost his job at a restaurant when it was forced to close last February. "This helps me bring my kids milk, sugar: the things that are most necessary," Gomez told Reuters.

Gomez's husband now earns about US$350 per month working at a grocery store, far less than his previous salary. The family also receives US$35 per month from a government subsidy for each of her two children, but after rent and transportation there isn't enough money for food.

The couple's purchasing power is further weakened by that fact inflation is hovering around 25 percent and the peso continues to devalue day by day. 

Since taking office in 2015, President Mauricio Macri's administration has slashed subsidies and government jobs despite ongoing protests by unions and social organizations.

Between November 2017 and June of this year, President Macri gouged gas, water and electric subsidies and rates have increased an average of 1,300 percent across the country.

Approximately 1,350 government employees have been let go since December, including 350 state-media journalists who were abruptly let go in June.

In an attempt to avoid the impending recession, the government recently approved a US$50 billion IMF loan. 

Most trade clubs have tens of thousands of members, and continue to grow as the nation's 29 percent poverty rate climbs. Experts say this statistic will increase by two to three percent by the end of the year.     

"The money is not enough," said Silvia Aranda, Facebook administrator for the Merlo, Buenos Aires club, which has a reported 46,000 Facebook members. "Before, we were getting 100 requests to join per day. Now, it is a lot more," she told Reuters.

Barter clubs sprang up during Argentina's 2001-2002 economic collapse and again during the 2009 global financial meltdown.  

In order to keep trading fair, their social media pages outline a point system for products as a sort of exchange rate for the online community. For example, one kilo of flour equals one point; two bags of flour are worth one bottle of sunflower oil, and three are worth an adult pair of jeans, but there’s always room to negotiate.

The informal nature of Argentina's bartering groups makes them difficult to track. A spokesman for the Social Development Ministry declined to comment on their rise.

On July 6, Cecilia Gomez said she’s hoping to trade her homemade alfajores – a rich caramel and chocolate cookie – for milk, detergent and 'yerba,' the bitter herb for Argentina's well-known 'mate' beverage. "That is what I need urgently at home," she said.

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