Argentina unveils new 2,000-peso banknote as inflation bites
(BBC) A new 2,000-peso banknote will be issued in Argentina in response to soaring inflation, the country’s central bank (BCRA) has confirmed.
The new note – which will be worth $11 (£9) officially – comes after consumer prices jumped by nearly 95% in the 12 months to the end of December.
It marks Argentina’s fastest pace of inflation since 1991.
The largest current bill, the 1,000-peso note, is worth just $2.70 on the alternative markets.
Writing on Twitter, the BCRA said the new note would “commemorate the development of science and medicine in Argentina”.
It will feature pioneering doctors Cecilia Grierson and Ramón Carrillo, it added – although it is not clear when the note will enter circulation.
When Argentina’s current currency was introduced in 1992, its value was pegged at one US dollar.
But that fixed exchange rate system was abandoned after the financial crisis that engulfed the country in 2001 and 2002.
Since then, the peso has lost so much of its value that one local artist uses banknotes for painting on, because they are cheaper than a canvas.
Sergio Diaz, of Salta, recently painted a picture depicting Steven Spielberg’s movie Jaws as a parody of Argentina’s ever-increasing inflation.
Argentina has seen prices rise sharply as the cost of commodities, including energy, has gone up.
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