Argentina Is Going Broke to Stall a Full-On Currency Collapse

  • Central Bank has more liabilities than assets on balance sheet
  • Gross reserves have slumped to $34 billion, a seven-year low
A black-market currency exchanger holds two $100 bank notes and a handful of 1,000-peso bills.Source: Bloomberg
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Argentina’s fight to prevent its problematic currency from a total meltdown is leaving the central bank, by some estimates, broke.

The South America nation has already spent all of its liquid international reserves, plus another estimated $1 billion, according to Buenos Aires-based consulting firm 1816 Economia & Estrategia — raising the stakes as the nation contends with a historic drought and impending recession.