Argentine peso
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The Argentine peso (originally established as the nuevo peso argentino or peso convertible) is the currency of Argentina. Its ISO 4217 code is ARS, and the symbol used locally for it is $ (to avoid confusion, Argentines most frequently use U$S to indicate US dollars). It is divided into 100 centavos.
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History of the Argentine currency system
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Argentine peso was one of the most traded currencies in the world. However, throughout the century, the economy collapsed several times, and the country experienced periods of inflation and hyperinflation that led to changes in the system:
- Peso moneda nacional, 1881-1969 (m$n)
- Peso ley, 1970-1983, which replaced the previous currency at a rate of one peso ley to 100 pesos moneda nacional.
- Peso argentino, 1983-1985 ($a), which replaced the previous currency at a rate of one to ten thousand.
- Austral 1985-1991 (the symbol was an uppercase A with an extra horizontal line), which replaced the previous currency at a rate of one to one thousand.
- Nuevo peso (peso convertible), 1991 to present, which replaced the austral at a rate of one to ten thousand. It was named convertible since the international exchange rate was fixed by the Central Bank at one US dollar to one peso, and for every peso convertible circulating, there was a US dollar in the Central Bank's foreign currency reserves. However, after the economic debacle of 2001, the fixed exchange rate system was abandoned.
The end result was that one nuevo peso would be about 10,000,000,000,000 (10¹³) pesos moneda nacional today.
Since February 2002, the exchange rate fluctuated, up to a peak of four pesos to one dollar (that is, a 75% devaluation). The exports boom then produced a massive inflow of dollars into the Argentine economy, which helped lower their price. On the other hand, the current administration has publicly acknowledged a strategy of keeping the exchange rate at about 2.90 or 3 pesos per US dollar, in order to maintain the competitiveness of exports and encourage import substitution by local industries. The Central Bank emits pesos and buys dollars in the free market in large amounts (in the order of USD 10 to 100 million per day) to keep the dollar price from dropping, and has amassed over $25,000 million in reserves (August 2005).
Note that the highest valued peso note is the AR$100, worth only about US$35. However, since prices in Argentina are much lower, there is little need for higher valued notes.
Current peso notes
Peso banknotes exist in the denominations of 1 (discontinued and replaced by the 1 peso coin), 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 pesos. Coins worth one peso and 50, 25, 10 and 5 cents (centavos) also circulate. When the peso convertible was relatively new, one-cent and even half-cent coins circulated, but the latter was soon abandoned, and the former officially discontinued.
Some two-peso coins were emitted in 1999 to commemorate the centennial of the birth of world-famous writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges; they had an image of Borges' face on one side, and a labyrinth and the Hebrew letter aleph on the other.
In addition, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Eva Perón, on September 18, 2002 a new two-peso coin with her face was created. It was said that this coin would replace the old $2 banknote if inflation continued to be high. None of the two-peso coins are currently in wide circulation.
| Denomination | Portrait | Main colour | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| $ 1 | Carlos Pellegrini (not currently in use, replaced by the 1 peso coin) | Navy blue | Image:1peso banknote.jpg |
| $ 2 | Bartolomé Mitre | Light Blue | Image:2pesos.jpg |
| $ 5 | José de San Martín | Green | Image:5pesos.jpg |
| $ 10 | Manuel Belgrano | Brown | Image:10pesos.jpg |
| $ 20 | Juan Manuel de Rosas | Red | Image:20pesos.jpg |
| $ 50 | Domingo Faustino Sarmiento | Black | Image:50pesos.jpg |
| $ 100 | Julio Argentino Roca | Violet | Image:100pesos.jpg |
Current ARS exchange rates
AUD | CAD | EUR | GBP | INR | NZD | USD
External links
| Currencies of The Americas | |
|---|---|
| North | Bermuda dollar | Canadian dollar | Danish krone (Greenland) | Euro (Saint-Pierre et Miquelon) | Mexican peso | US dollar |
| Central | Belize dollar | Costa Rican colón | Guatemalan quetzal | Honduran lempira | Nicaraguan córdoba | Panamanian balboa | US dollar (El Salvador) |
| Caribbean | Aruban florin | Bahamian dollar | Barbadian dollar | Cayman dollar | Cuban peso | Cuban convertible peso | Dominican peso | East Caribbean dollar | Euro (Guadeloupe, Martinique) | Haitian gourde | Jamaican dollar | Netherlands Antilles florin | Trinidad and Tobago dollar |
| South | Argentine peso | Bolivian boliviano | Brazilian real | Chilean peso | Colombian peso | Euro (French Guiana) | Falkland pound | Guyanese dollar | Paraguayan guaraní | Peruvian nuevo sol | Suriname dollar | US dollar (Ecuador) | Uruguayan peso | Venezuelan bolívar
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