When Argentina became independent in 1816, several types of local currencies coexisted, until the year 1881 when the Monetary Unification Law was enacted. This law determined that the monetary unit of Argentina was the “Peso Moneda Nacional” (Peso National Currency). Due to inflation, this first unified currency of Argentina was slowly losing its value, until 1970 when it was decided to replace it with a new currency called “Peso Ley” (Peso Law). Between 1975 and 1982 the devaluation of the “Peso Ley” was huge. When democracy return in 1983, after ending a terrible military dictatorship that lasted 7 long years, the “Peso Argentino” (Argentine Peso) was created. But this new national currency was going to last only two years, since an accelerated inflation of 650% per year forced economic measures to be taken. As part of an anti-inflationary plan, the “Austral” was born in 1985, which unfortunately was not going to be successful either due to uncontrolled hyperinflation, which reached 5000% in 1989. A new Argentine currency was created in 1992, it is called just “Peso”.

Let me introduce you to our national currency: the Peso.

The coins in circulation, due to the high rate of inflation, have practically no real value, but could be of interest to some collector 😉

The bills in circulation today are those corresponding to the second, third and fourth series (the first series of 1992 has already been withdrawn).

If you do not want to exchange money, you also have the option of paying with your debit or credit card, both widely used payment methods. When exchanging money, make sure to do it in a safe place or with a trusted person. Currently the highest value bill is the 1000 pesos, but due to the high inflation we suffer, when you arrive in Argentina it is very likely that there will be bills of higher value or perhaps a complete different currency, in Argentina you never know.