Argentine peso
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Template:Argentine economy 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. However, after the economic debacle of 2001, the fixed exchange rate system was abandoned.
Since February 2002, the exchange rate fluctuated, up to a peak of four pesos to one dollar. 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. As of 2005, 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.
Current peso notes
Peso banknotes exist in the denominations of 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 |
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| $ 2 | Bartolomé Mitre | Blue | 
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| $ 5 | José de San Martín | Green | Missing image 5pesos.jpg |
| $ 10 | Manuel Belgrano | Brown | 
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| $ 20 | Juan Manuel de Rosas | Red | 
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| $ 50 | Domingo Faustino Sarmiento | Black | Missing image 50pesos.jpg |
| $ 100 | Julio Argentino Roca | Violet | 
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Current ARS exchange rates
AUD (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=AUD&to=ARS&submit=Convert) | CAD (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=CAD&to=ARS&submit=Convert) | EUR (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=EUR&to=ARS&submit=Convert) | GBP (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=GBP&to=ARS&submit=Convert) | INR (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=INR&to=ARS&submit=Convert) | NZD (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=NZD&to=ARS&submit=Convert) | USD (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=USD&to=ARS&submit=Convert)
External links
- Current official peso exchange rates (third column) (http://www.bcra.gov.ar/estadis/es030104.asp)
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