This week a new controversy emerged regarding the currency of our country. This is the proposal of the Ministers of Economy of Argentina and Brazil to create a common currency between the two countries.
As the latest report from the Stock Exchange explains, “the currency would not replace the peso in Argentina or the real in Brazil, but rather -at least in its first stage- it would be used as a tool for trade between the two nations”.
Despite the different questions that were raised by this initiative, the analysis carried out by the BCC’s economic research institute reveals a sad reality: Our ticket is worth 15 times less than the real one.
Today, measured in dollars, the purchasing power of the peso is the lowest in the entire region. The purchasing power of the highest denomination bill in Argentina, the 1,000 pesos-, the official exchange rate reaches 5.4 official dollars.
In the broad comparative analysis, apart from Argentina and Venezuela, Paraguay is the country in which the highest denomination bill represents the lowest purchasing power: 13.5 dollars. In Colombia, Chile and Bolivia, its largest ticket allows you to buy between 20 and 30 dollars.
In the case of Brazil, the 200 reais bill is equivalent to 39.3 dollars: 15 times more than the 1,000 Argentine pesos valued at the parallel exchange rate. The region’s podium is made up of Uruguay, Peru and Mexico, where its highest denomination bill reaches more than 50 dollars.