#currency-devaluation

#currency-devaluation

Protests over rising costs of living in Iran spread to several universities on Tuesday, semi-official media reported, as students joined shopkeepers and merchants in expressing dissatisfaction at currency devaluation and the connected costs. The Fars news agency reported that hundreds of students demonstrated at four universities in the capital Tehran on Tuesday; other outlets said seven sites were involved.

Everything is very difficult, there's a lot of uncertainty, says Venezuelan taxi driver Jose Luis Ledezma, who works in Caracas. Ledezma has been hit hard by the collapse in trips to Maiquetia airport, his most common route. I used to do six trips a day to the airport. Now, if I do three a week, that's a lot, he explains. I work with people of all ages, from wealthy people to very poor people. I see nervousness.

Cambio, cambio. Under the blazing sun, dozens of money changers are hawking US dollars along Florida Street, a bustling pedestrian strip in Buenos Aires. Known as arbolitos (little trees), they are thriving ahead of the 26 October midterm elections in a country long used to saving in the greenback. The best time to buy is now, says one arbolito, declining to give her name. [The dollar] went down a little but it is a fake-out it'll rise again.

Both Quiroga and Paz sought to sell themselves as candidates of change and promise to pivot the country away from two decades of populist economic policy. The election comes after MAS, founded by former President Evo Morales, was voted out of government in an August 17 election. The result was seen as an expression of voters' frustration over party infighting as well as national fuel shortages. Quiroga and Paz had both pledged to fix the exchange rate, restructure state-owned businesses and attract foreign investment.