Argentina town has raffle to see who gets paid first

Some workers in Argentina will have to wait until their name gets drawn from a hat before they get paid. Or maybe they will draw straws.

One way or the other, due to insufficient funds, "we will draw lots to decide the (order) of payment," said  Gustavo Pueyo, mayor of Bialet Masse. The mayor of the tourist town with 5,000 inhabitants approved the raffle that saw 23 of 92 employees receive pay last Friday, writes AFP. The second round of drawing was tabled for yesterday.

The mayor said insufficient funding from the provincial government is what led to the cash shortfall. Argentina’s GDP is expected to be less than 4 per cent this year, when the country had seen an average eight per cent gowth since 2003, according to analysts in the AFP report.