Argentine peso
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| Argentine peso peso argentino (Spanish) |
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| ISO 4217 Code | ARS | ||||
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| User(s) | Argentina | ||||
| Inflation | 10% | ||||
| Source | The World Factbook, November 2006 est. | ||||
| Subunit | |||||
| 1/100 | centavo | ||||
| Symbol | $ | ||||
| Coins | 5, 10, 25, 50 centavos, 1, 2, 5 pesos | ||||
| Banknotes | 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 pesos | ||||
| Central bank | Banco Central de la República Argentina | ||||
| Website | www.bcra.gov.ar | ||||
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 frequently use U$S to indicate U.S. dollars). It is divided into 100 centavos.
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[edit] History
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Argentine peso was one of the most traded currencies in the world. However, throughout the century, the economy collapsed several times, and the country experienced periods of inflation and hyperinflation that led to changes in the system.
[edit] Peso before 1826
The peso was a name often used for the silver Spanish 8 reales coin. Following Independence, Argentina began issuing its own coins, denominated in reales, soles and escudos, including silver 8 reales (or soles) coins still known as pesos. These coins, together with those from neighbouring countries, circulated until 1881.
[edit] Peso Fuerte, 1826–1881
In 1826, two paper money issues began, denominated in pesos. One, the peso fuerte ($F) was a convertible currency, with 17 pesos fuertes equal to one Spanish ounce (27.0643 g) of 0.916 fine gold. This was changed in 1864 when the rate dropped to 16 pesos fuertes per gold ounce.[citation needed] It was replaced by the peso moneda nacional at par in 1881.
[edit] Peso Moneda Corriente, 1826–1881
The peso moneda corriente ($m/c) was also introduced in 1826 but was an inconvertible currency. It started at par with the peso fuerte, but depreciated and was replaced in 1881 by the peso moneda nacional at a rate of 25 to 1.
[edit] Peso Moneda Nacional, 1881–1969
Although the Argentine Confederation issued 1, 2 and 4 centavos coins in 1854, with 100 centavos = 1 peso = 8 reales, Argentina did not decimalize until 1881. The peso moneda nacional (m$n or $m/n) replaced the earlier currencies at the rate of 1 peso moneda nacional = 8 reales = 1 peso fuerte = 25 peso moneda corriente. Initially, one peso moneda nacional coin was made of silver and known as patacon. However, the 1890 economic crisis ensured that no further silver coins were issued.
[edit] Peso Oro Sellado, 1881–1929
The peso oro sellado was a convertible paper currency equal to 1.4516 grams of fine gold.
[edit] Peso Ley, 1970–1983
The peso ley 18.188 (called simply the peso ley), replaced the previous currency at a rate of one peso ley to 100 pesos moneda nacional.
[edit] Peso Argentino, 1983–1985
The peso argentino ($a), replaced the previous currency at a rate of one to ten thousand. The currency was born soon after the arrival of democracy. However, soon after it lost its purchasing power too after a number of devaluations which ended up with its substitution by a new currency called Austral in June 1985.
[edit] Austral, 1985–1991
The austral (the symbol was an uppercase A with an extra horizontal line), replaced the peso argentino at a rate of one austral for one thousand pesos. During the period of circulation of the austral, Argentina suffered from hyperinflation. The last months of President Raul Alfonsín's period in office in 1989 saw prices move up constantly (200% in July alone), with a subsequent fall in the value of the currency. Emergency notes were issued (worth 10,000, 50,000 and 500,000 australes) and provincial administrations issued their own currency for the first time in decades. The value of the currency was stabilized soon after President Carlos Menem was elected.
[edit] Peso Convertible, 1992–present
| Argentine economic crisis (1999–2002) |
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Economy of Argentina |
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The peso replaced the austral at a rate of one to ten thousand. It was also referred to as peso convertible since the international exchange rate was fixed by the Central Bank at one U.S. dollar to one peso, and for every peso convertible circulating, there was a U.S. dollar in the Central Bank's foreign currency reserves.The end result of this replacement was that one peso would be worth 10,000,000,000,000 (1013) pesos moneda nacional today. However, after the economic debacle of 2001, the fixed exchange rate system was abandoned. Since January 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 between 2.90 to 3.10 pesos per U.S. dollar, in order to maintain the competitiveness of exports and encourage import substitution by local industries. When necessary, the Central Bank emits pesos and buys dollars in the free market (sometimes large amounts, in the order of 10 to 100 million USD per day) to keep the dollar price from dropping, and had amassed over 27,000 million USD in reserves before the 9,810 million USD payment to the IMF in January 2006.
Note that the highest valued peso note is the AR$100, worth only about US$33. Prices in Argentina are lower than those in the United States in terms of purchasing power parity, so there is little need for higher valued notes.
[edit] Circulating Currency
[edit] Coins
Coins worth one peso and 50, 25, 10 and 5 centavos circulate. 1 centavo coins have been withdrawn from circulation.
Commemorating the National Constitutional Convention, two-peso and five-peso nickel coins were emitted in 1994.
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 AR$2 banknote if inflation continued to be high. None of the two-peso coins are currently in wide circulation. There also exist some 50 and one peso coins commemorating different events, including the death of José de San Martín (2001); the establishment of Mercosur (1998); the attainment of voting rights by women (1997); and Children's Rights (1996).
| Denomination | Obverse | Reverse |
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| $ 0.01 (1 centavo) |
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| $ 0.05 (5 centavos) |
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| $ 0.10 (10 centavos) |
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| $ 0.25 (25 centavos) |
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| $ 0.50 (50 centavos) |
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| $ 1.00 (1 peso) |
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| $ 2.00 (2 pesos) |
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| $ 5.00 (5 pesos) |
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[edit] Banknotes
Peso banknotes exist in the denominations of 1 (discontinued and replaced by the 1 peso coin), 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 pesos.
| Image | Value | Dimensions | Colour | Portrait | |
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$ 1 | 155 × 65 mm | Navy blue | Carlos Pellegrini (not currently in use, replaced by the 1 peso coin) |
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$ 2 | Light Blue | Bartolomé Mitre | |
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$ 5 | Green | José de San Martín | |
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$ 10 | Brown | Manuel Belgrano | |
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$ 20 | Red | Juan Manuel de Rosas | |
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$ 50 | Black | Domingo Faustino Sarmiento | |
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$ 100 | Violet | Julio Argentino Roca | |
| These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimeter, a standard for world banknotes. | |||||
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[edit] See also
- Historical exchange rates of Argentine currency
- Casa de la Moneda de la Republica Argentina - Argentine mint.
[edit] External links
- La Moneda Website - Actual and Historic Pictures
- Historical and current banknotes and coins (images)
- (Spanish) Base de datos de Rodolfo Frank - El valor de la moneda
Historical currencies of Argentina  |
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| Currencies named peso or similar | |
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| Current | Argentine peso · Chilean peso · Colombian peso · Cuban peso · Cuban convertible peso · Dominican peso · Mexican peso · Philippine piso · Uruguayan peso |
| Defunct | Argentine peso moneda nacional · Argentine peso ley · Argentine peso argentino · Bolivian peso · Costa Rican peso · Ecuadorian peso · El Salvadoran peso · Guatemalan peso · Guinea Bissau peso · Honduran peso · Nicaraguan peso · Paraguayan peso · Puerto Rican peso · Spanish peso · Venezuelan peso |
