Argentine Peso (ARS)

Basic Concepts of the Argentine Peso

The Argentine Peso is the official currency of Argentina, with the ISO code ARS and the symbol $. It is issued and managed by the Central Bank of Argentina and is mainly used for domestic transactions and international settlements.

Countries and Regions of Use

The Argentine Peso circulates only within Argentina and is the legal tender of the country. Located in South America, Argentina has a population of about 45 million and an economy dominated by agriculture, industry and services.

Units and Denominations

The Argentine Peso is divided into the primary unit, the peso, and the secondary unit, the cent, with 1 peso equaling 100 cents. The denominations of banknotes are 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000 and 2,000 pesos, while the denominations of coins are 1, 2, 5, 10 pesos and 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents.

Historical Background

The Argentine peso dates back to the 19th century, when it was initially pegged to the Spanish peso, and underwent several currency reforms in the 20th century, including the introduction of a currency board system in 1991 with a fixed exchange rate to the US dollar, which was converted to a floating exchange rate after the 2001 economic crisis. In recent years, high inflation and exchange rate volatility have been its main challenges.