OK, where's the catch? Argentina's >30% can't be real.
Their inflation indeed seems to be around 50%, but I find it hard to believe that the actual interest rate can be at 86%. This must be either a short term thing, incorrect data, or banks doing exit scam.
No, it is not incorrect data. I know about a little about their situation, as I am from Brazil.
The country is completly broken. Government is in fiscal debit every year, and asking for additional loans to pay previous debits.
Additionally, the right wing president is probably not going to be elected again, and the socialists will take over. This generated an additional concern and a problem with trust with the investors. The situation will probably get worse.
“The IMF like everyone else needs clarity on the economic program from the Fernandez team,” says Siobhan Morden, head of Latin America fixed-income strategy for Amherst Pierpont Securities in New York.
“It would require a huge positive shock post- election to stabilize investor confidence, including commitment to an IMF program,” she says.
Such a commitment would not sit well with the bulk of Fernandez voters who see the Fund as too austere for their current needs.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2019/09/09/argentinas-central-bank-is-running-out-of-money/#39f0993f2ce2Someone would need to be crazy to invest in Argentina now, even with 30% real interest rates, because goverment will probably devaluate their money by printing more. Argentina is known to fake inflation data, so probably their real inflation is far more than the actual interest rates.
Argentina even manipulated Big Mac price (from mc Donalds) to keep inflation artificially lower:
Argentina likely manipulating Big Mac prices to keep inflation seemingly lowerAnd compared to what is on the menu, like a quarter pounder or chicken McNuggets, the Big Mac is cheap. With fries and drink, it’s just 22 pesos, or about $5.50. The other meals start at 33 pesos.
So why are the Golden Arches hiding those two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onion on a sesame seed bun? And selling them at 30 percent off? Boyano’s not surprised at all. In fact, he called it, “an obvious thing."
Boyano said Argentina’s current government, especially commerce secretary Guillermo Moreno, is notorious for telling companies to fix certain prices to keep the official inflation rate down.
The Economist magazine publishes one of several inflation indicators. Its famous Big Mac index uses the prices of Big Macs worldwide to measure inflation rates. The magazine called out Argentina last year for manipulating the price.There’s broad consensus among private economists here that inflation is more than double the government’s official rate. Last year, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s administration sued 12 economists for publishing their own figures, including those of former undersecretary of finance Miguel Kiguel.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2012-02-07/argentina-likely-manipulating-big-mac-prices-keep-inflation-seemingly-lower Well, I could write a lot more about it, but that´s enough.
TLDR: In reality, Argentina probably has a negative interest rate.