Argentina’s peso suffered its biggest one-day fall since the 2002 financial crisis after the country’s central bank pulled its support for the currency in an effort to preserve foreign exchange reserves that have fallen by almost a third over the past year.
The fall accelerated a long-running decline since President Cristina Fernández replaced her economic team in November. The currency plunged about 15 per cent although thin liquidity made it difficult to gauge its true level.
The peso was trading at about 7.90 to the dollar by early afternoon New York time. That is still at some distance from the black market rate that most Argentines use, which has weakened 20 per cent since the start of the year to stand at about 12.85 to the dollar yesterday.