Central Bank of Argentina


The Central Bank of Argentina, also known as the “BCRA”, was established on May 28th, 1935 to act as the country’s financial agent in all cases. The Bank is run by a board containing a Governor, two Deputy Governors, and eight directors. The head governor is responsible for managing affairs with third parties, while the deputy governors are attributed with an assistant position. In the case that the head governor is temporarily unavailable, one of the Deputy Governors will take his/her place. All of the Governors and directors are members of the board of directors, which is responsible for assuring financial growth for the economy of Argentina. Each of the leadership positions within the bank is an appointed position rather than an elected one, therefore the Executive branch of the government has virtual control of the banking and currency system.

When formed, the bank had replaced the country’s Currency Board, which was flawed in many ways – predominately in the fact that credit was given out too freely and the system was being abused. Many regulations in place are related to credit, at least indirectly: credit cannot be given out to those without merit; there must be strict agreements in place about the payment timetable, etc.

The primary role of the bank is to have an influential hold over the country’s exchange rate, especially with the United States Dollar. Argentina’s financial infrastructure runs in such a way that foreign currency trade is highly encouraged, perhaps inadvertently; this is mainly because the currency has been slowly increasing in value since the 1980s. To avoid massive inflation or deflation due to the high volume of trade, the bank will buy other currencies to convert into Argentinean Dollars. In fact, inflation has been a very traditional issue, and the bank is required by law to release monthly reports with macroeconomic effects and any signs of harmful inflation.

The BCRA, as with the central banks of many countries, is responsible for the production of banknotes and coins. Argentinean banknotes are distributed in the typical scale seen in stronger currencies such as the Euro and the USD, despite the slightly depreciated value of the Argentinean Peso.



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