BUENOS AIRES, Feb 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — 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 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.
Argentina has seen prices rise sharply as the cost of commodities, including energy, has gone up.
In December, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved another $6bn of bailout money for South America’s second largest economy.
It was the latest payout for Argentina in a 30-month programme that is expected to reach a total of $44bn.
Last summer, the troubled country had three economy ministers in the space of just four weeks. — NNN-AGENCIES
