Argentinian isolationism and socialism force Google to flee from developers

The good part about comprehensive socialism is that it’s excellent for buying votes and winning elections as the masses in the middle and lower class see an opportunity for them to get more money that they didn’t have to earn. The bad part is that, when mixed with isolationism and paranoid political accusations, it forces a country to allow its people to be hurt as a result, especially in the long run.

That’s the problem that is facing the people of Argentina right now and Google has been forced to make a move of their own against the policies of the current regime. The doors have all been shut outside of the black market when it comes to currency exchanges in Argentina. The effort to keep the people from fleeing the bounds of the pseudo-socialist economy of the country by trading in foreign currencies has made paying with US dollars nearly impossible. As a result, Google has announced that they are no longer able to pay developers in the economically crushed country.

Here is a copy of the letter they sent to developers:

We are writing to you today to inform you that Google Play will no longer be able to accept payments on behalf of developers registered in Argentina starting June 27, 2013. Developers based in Argentina may continue to offer free applications in the Google Play store. All applications requiring the billing permission as well as in-app products will be unpublished from the Google Play store on June 27, 2013. A payout for your earnings through this time will be made on July 22, 2013. If your accumulated earnings at that time do not meet the payout threshold, you may close your linked AdSense account to receive a final payment.

If you are legally able to do business in one of the other supported countries and otherwise satisfy the Google Wallet Terms of Service for that country, you may register for a Google Wallet Merchant Center account in that country and transfer your applications to it. To review the Google Wallet Merchant Center account Terms of Service, go to this link:

https://checkout.google.com/termsOfService?type=Seller

You would need new Google Play Developer account to tie to your new Merchant account. To learn more about creating new Google Play Developer account and transferring your applications, please visit our Help Center at https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/139626

If you have any questions, please contact Google Checkout Merchant team at https://support.google.com/payments/?hl=en#topic=3091397&ts=3126357&contact=1

We hope to restore payouts to developers based in Argentina in the future. While no specific plans are in place at the moment, we are looking forward to restoring this service, and we will make sure to notify you once payouts to developers based in Argentina are restored.

Regards,
The Google Play Team

For further background on the economic situation that caused this, check out this story from The Telegraph.