Effective

Money, in any of its forms (“commodity”, “representative” or “fiduciary” money), has three functions: it is a medium of exchange, that is, a means of payment with a value that people trust; it is a unit of account that allows the price of goods and services to be expressed; and it’s a store of value. Contemporary economies use fiat money, which is the currency declared legal tender and issued by a central bank. Cash is the circulating money in the form of banknotes and coins.

The way in which people make payments in our country has been undergoing an important change towards a greater use of electronic means, a process that has been decisively promoted by the Central Bank through innovative and high-impact measures and programs.

While the process of digitizing payments is progressing, the Central Bank has put into circulation larger denomination banknotes and coins that will improve the experience of paying for products and services and the operation of ATMs along with the optimization of cash transfer. The aforementioned banknotes are part of the families “Native Animals of the Argentine Republic” and “Heroines and Heroes of the Homeland”. Likewise, and adequately meeting the demand of financial institutions and citizens, new coins were issued that form the “Native Trees of the Argentine Republic” family.

In addition, the Central Bank took various actions to improve the usefulness and quality of banknotes and coins in circulation: such as the development of a plan for the destruction of banknotes in poor condition and the generation of a market for cash, so that financial institutions can dump their supply of surplus cash or cover their demand for missing cash. without the banknotes and coins in circulation having to go through the Central Bank. This mechanism is not only more efficient for the system as a whole, but also implies significant savings for the entity, since it is the financial institutions themselves that must be in charge of locating the cash they offer or getting the cash they need.