Argentine Peso
The peso (established as the peso convertible; several older currencies were also named peso) is the currency of Argentina since 1992, identified within Argentina by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using peso or dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 centavos, but with 10 pesos being worth about 1 US cent in early 2025, smaller denominations are not issued or in normal use. Its ISO 4217 code is ARS. It replaced the austral at a rate of 10,000 australes to one peso.
Argentine currency has experienced severe inflation, with periods of hyperinflation, since the mid-20th century, with periodic change of the currency valuation to a new version at a rate ranging from 100:1 to 10,000:1. A new peso introduced in 1992, officially the peso convertible de curso legal, was worth 10,000,000,000,000 (ten trillion) pesos moneda nacional, the currency in use until 1970. Since the early 21st century, the peso has experienced further substantial inflation, reaching 289.4% year-on-year in April 2024, the highest since the current peso was introduced in the Convertibility plan of 1991.
The official exchange rate for the United States dollar valued the peso convertible de curso legal at one US dollar at its introduction in 1992, which was maintained until early 2002. Afterwards, it went from a 3:1 exchange rate with the US dollar in 2003 to 178:1 in early 2023. On 14 August 2023, the official exchange rate was fixed at ARS$350 to one US dollar; the unregulated rate valued the peso at ARS$665 to one US dollar. On 15 November 2023, the crawling peg was restored.
On 12 December 2023, following the election of president Javier Milei, economy minister Luis Caputo changed the official exchange rate to 800 pesos to the U.S. dollar from the previous 366.5, a devaluation of 54%, to be followed by a monthly devaluation target of 2% (about 27% per year). At the time, the unofficial exchange rate was around 1,000 pesos per dollar. The monthly devaluation target was lowered to 1% on February 2025 after inflation eased.
From 14 April 2025 on, the official peso is set to freely floating within a currency band of 1000 to 1400 pesos per dollar, as part of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund. Since then, as a consequence of the liberalization of the currency market, the official and unofficial rates have remained close to each other. The upper limit of the trading band was breached in September and October 2025, triggering interventions by the Argentine central bank and the United States Treasury in the foreign exchange market to keep the exchange rate within the limits.