In Argentina, the province of Rioja is preparing to create its own currency, alongside the peso. Deprived of substance by the “ austerity shock » decreed by Javier Milei, this province in the northwest of the country governed by the Peronist opposition will issue a local currency, the Bocade, in order to pay the salaries of its civil servants.
2 mins
As during the great economic crisis of 2001, the province of La Rioja is preparing to issue its own currency. The local Parliament of this Andean agricultural region of northwest Argentina, among the least populated in the country with its 385,000 inhabitants, yesterday approved the issuance of the equivalent of 26 million dollars in a new local currency, reports our correspondent in Buenos Aires, Théo Conscience.
This currency is called Bocadefor the contraction of “ deuda cancellation bonus », that is to say debt recovery voucher. These vouchers issued by the provincial government will be used to pay the salaries of the many public sector agents, and can then be used as a means of payment.
According to its governor Ricardo Quintela (justicialist party), the province was “ obliged » to create its own currency because of the ” cruelty ” of the budgetary adjustment decided by Javier Milei. In order to eliminate the fiscal deficit, the ultraliberal president notably decided to drastically cut transfers of resources from the State to the provinces. A measure which, according to Quintela, is part of a plan intended to “ destabilize provincial governments “.
Our meetings with intendents and intendentas of all the departments to discuss the economic situation that affects the province and the projects in which we are working to accompany the riojanas and riojanos. Agradezco su apoyo en la decisión de crear una… pic.twitter.com/vmDeVp43za
— Ricardo Quintela (@QuintelaRicardo) January 16, 2024
No deadline has been put forward at this stage for the launch of Bocade, nor details on its virtual, or also physical, nature. The executive must first agree with the provincial public bank and various banking and private sector entities on the terms of use.
President Javier Milei ironically celebrated La Rioja’s initiative, recalling that he had always defended competition between currencies, and warned that the central state would not come to the rescue in the event of the province’s insolvency.
Read alsoArgentina: the IMF endorses President Milei’s policy and grants him $4.7 billion
(and with agencies)