The Government published two tenders to import the highest denomination banknotes and meet the issuance needs of the BCRA
By iProfessional
19/04/2023 – 13,53hs
The Mint published two tenders to transport $1,000 bills from Europe in order to cover the peso issuance needs that the Central Bank (BCRA) will have throughout the year.
Both processes will be carried out under the Open Purchase Order modality, established in article 17 of the Casa de la Moneda Procurement Regulations. This modality proceeds in the event that the quantity of goods or services It would only have been prefixed in the contract in an approximate way, in such a way that the organization can carry out the requirements according to its needs during the expected period of time and at the awarded unit price.
This implies that Casa de la Moneda is not obliged to use the maximum totality of the tendered flights, although, in principle, on this occasion, the up to eight flights from Malta and six from Paristhe capital of France and the contracting of services would have a value of around US$33 million.
As revealed by the Bloomberg Línea portal, it would be a total purchase of 260 million $1,000 bills (80 million from Paris and 180 million from Malta), although these numbers were not confirmed by the Mint by confidentiality issues required by monetary policy.
Meanwhile, they did inform that they will seek to replace all air transport services with maritime ones with the goal of reducing costs. And, on the other hand, they assured that they are undergoing a modernization process, which includes the purchase, installation and fine-tuning of new ticket printing technology, to achieve self-sufficiency and position itself as an important competitor in the ticket market.
It is worth mentioning that there are currently 3,100 million units of $1,000 banknotes, to which will be added the new copies imported from Malta and Paris. However, the market is still waiting for the arrival of the $2,000, with tribute images to Cecilia Grierson, the first Argentine doctor, and former Health Minister Ramón Carrillo.
While waiting for the $2,000 bill to arrive, more $1,000 bills are imported
When does the $2,000 bill come out?
At the beginning of February, the Central Bank announced that it would launch in a “commemorative” way the new maximum denomination of $2,000, although he did not report the exact date of when it will begin to circulate in banks and the public. Beyond that some sources of the monetary entity reported that this will materialize midyear, Some experts from the financial sector consulted by iProfesional doubt that these papers will be able to see the street before August.
Above all, this uncertainty is based on the fact that the average period to develop a new banknote “from scratch” is one year, because the design of the sketch must be approved, which will be final, with the security measures and adjustments established by the different Casa de la Moneda experts. To which is added the task of ordering the special paper and ink that will be used in its printing from the few world suppliers in advance of time.
In fact, some memorizing experts remember that the efficiency record occurred in mid-2016, when the previous government launched the $500 bill, with the image of the jaguar, on the street in a period of just 7 months. This was due to the fact that it adapted the format of a commemorative paper that already existed on trial during the previous management, a fact that accelerated various processes. Even the paper money that had already been purchased for that edition designed for previous years was used.
“Because of the bureaucracy that exists, It’s impossible for the $2,000 bill to come out in July.”sentence an understanding on the subject to iProfessional, who prefers anonymity.
In other words, based on the recorded records, with “great luck”, the Central Bank could put into circulation the $2,000 denomination next August or September. Not a minor fact if one takes into account that inflation, whose record is 6% per month, would subtract significant purchasing power until then.
