Pressure Mounts on Argentine Peso

Faith in the peso has been undermined by inflation, which economists say runs at an annual rate of 26%. Official currency reserves, which the government uses to pay foreign creditors, have shrunk by $2.2 billion in the past year. The government's response to the worsening economic climate, including strict limits on imports,Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. price controls and increasing state intervention in the economy, has driven many Argentines to buy dollars outside official channels, further undermining the peso's value.

Meanwhile,The term 'cableties control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. the government's increasing restrictions on the ability of Argentines to buy dollars has led to the creation of a "parallel" exchange rate to the official one. Some goods and services are priced at the black-market rate, which traded at 8.44 pesos per dollar on Thursday, up from 8.05 pesos last Friday and far above the official rate of 5.0973 to the dollar, according to local newspaper El Cronista.

The fear now is that the gap between the official and parallel exchange rates could portend a more severe nose dive in the peso if the government loses control of the rush for dollars. Such concerns have hit Argentina's debt, with the cost to insure $10 million in Argentine bonds for one year increasing sharply to $707,600, according to data provider Markit.

The situation is approaching a tipping point, economists say, where the government will soon have no choice but to devalue the currency, a risky move that could provoke even higher inflation by making imports more expensive. Argentina's battle with a declining currency and efforts to prevent capital flight highlights its divergence from other emerging markets, which are largely fighting off currency appreciation amid strong investment inflows.

On Monday, the government raised taxes on offshore credit-card purchases to 20% from 15%, triggering a sharp slide in the peso. Businesses and individuals in Argentina have been paying for dollar-denominated goods and services through their credit cards at the cheaper official exchange rate, thus drawing down the country's reserves. This type of arbitragewhen consumers or market participants profit from the difference in two exchange rateshas led to a $7 billion drop in reserves, Mr. Cottani said.

Many observers don't expect the government to devalue the peso until after midterm elections in October that could decide the future of President Christina Kirchner's populist movement. Wednesday night, Mrs. Kirchner summoned her top economic advisers for an emergency meeting, including Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino and central-bank President Mercedes Marco del Pont, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Another unofficial exchange rate hasn't fluctuated as drastically this week. The "blue-chip swap," where businesses buy local stocks and bonds, then sell them abroad for dollars, valued the peso at 8.44 to the greenback on Thursday, from 8.40 on Monday, according to Jefferies.

Rising commodity prices could buy the government some time, analysts say. Argentina's soybean exports are expected to pick up in April, after harvest season, which will bring more dollars into the country. The weakening exchange rate helps these exports by making them cheaper for foreign buyers.

So far, the turbulence in Argentina's local markets hasn't overly rattled foreign investors, who are drawn to the high yields on Argentina's dollar bonds.

"Right now, the fact that they are trying to close loopholes to stop the drain of international reserves is a good thing for bondholders as they are holding on to their dollars," said Marco Santamaria, portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein.

It was also viewed as a crime-reduction strategy designed to deal with robberies of day laborers who often gathered in the city's Fruitvale district. Many are paid in cash and because of their undocumented status are reluctant to report crimes to the authorities, said Deputy City Administrator Arturo Sanchez.

He pointed to the 2011 shooting death of restaurant owner Jesus "Chuy" Campos, who Oakland police said often carried a lot of cash on Fridays to cash the paychecks of undocumented workers living in the community. Campos, who had emigrated from Mexico, was shot and robbed in the early morning hours as he was entering his restaurant,Shop wholesale solarlight controller from cheap. Otaez, in the Fruitvale district.

City officials defended their debit card plan, saying the function helps shield individuals' identity information from federal immigration officials, who can subpoena city and state records easier than they can someone's financial information.

In San Francisco,The Motorola drycabinets Engine is an embedded software-only component of the Motorola wireless switches. which approved its municipal ID program in 2007, the county clerk's office destroyed personal information from applicants after their identities were verified.

But in Oakland, city officials didn't want to settle for a simple ID card. They believed they could take it a step further.

"Change happens fairly slowly, but Oakland is a politically progressive, diverse town that's breaking new ground on how we treat immigrant populations," Maher said.

Sanchez acknowledged the high service fees and said the city and its vendor, SF Global LLC, are negotiating lower fees. He also said the fees will be lowered as more people sign up.

Sanchez said the city is producing an educational video and printing flyers to hand out to applicants informing them that the debit card function does not have to be activated to be used as valid ID. But more than anything else, this situation calls up a pretty obvious question.

If it's the primary use is for the purpose of identification, why attach a debit card to it? Former Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente had pushed, unsuccessfully, for a simple ID card. He's not happy to hear about the debit card problems.

"This is absolutely unacceptable," De La Fuente said. "It was designed so people would have something to identify them when they were stopped by the police.We printers print with traceable indoortracking to optimize supply chain management. Basically, we are screwing the people that need the city's .