The Patacón (officially called ''Letra de Tesorería para Cancelación de Obligaciones de la Provincia de Buenos Aires'') was a bond issued by the government of the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, during 2001. The ''patacones'' were used to pay government bills, including state employees' salaries during a period when the

economic crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and ma ...

caused regular currency ( Argentine pesos) to be scarce. ''Patacones'' then circulated in the economy in much the same way as pesos. First issued during the peso/U.S. dollar convertibility regime, just like other

complementary currency A complementary currency is a currency or medium of exchange that is not necessarily a national currency, but that is thought of as supplementing or complementing national currencies. Complementary currencies are usually not legal tender and the ...

Patacones could be attractive due to a revenue scheduled for payment in 2003 in pesos (practically equivalent to dollars). When the convertibility was abandoned amid fears of hyperinflation, the attractiveness of this revenue practically disappeared. The basis for the acceptability of

shifted to their use to pay taxes. However, the value of Patacones became eroded as the series "B" was issued because as a way to put pressure on the Government to cancel a large debt, the company that printed them eliminated many safety features deemed too expensive, thus making them easier to counterfeit. Also, the revenue of series "B" was scheduled for payment just in 2006. The economic importance of Buenos Aires province ensured the acceptability of Patacones because there were plenty of large companies that found use for them as payment of provincial charges. Patacones were accepted outside the Buenos Aires province and eventually circulated (albeit informally) in border areas of neighboring countries. The name ''patacón'' is derived from a former Argentine national currency, and had been used in various places as a variant name for the

Peso The peso is the monetary unit of several Hispanophone, Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, as well as the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries of the Americas, the symbol com ...

. It was colloquially or jokingly used as a synonym of "money". The word was made popular by the popular comic hero

Patoruzú Patoruzú is a Comics, comic character created in 1928 by Dante Quinterno and is considered the most popular hero of Argentina, Argentine comics. Patoruzú is a wealthy Tehuelche people, Tehuelche ''cacique'' with great estate properties in Pat ...

-a wealthy, generous Indian ever ready to hand large heaps of bank notes to anyone in need, urging them to accept "these Patacones". Other

complementary currencies A complementary currency is a currency or medium of exchange that is not necessarily a national currency, but that is thought of as supplementing or complementing national currencies. Complementary currencies are usually not legal tender and the ...

in Argentina at that time were the Crédito, the LECOP and the Argentino.

External links

The patacone plan - back to the future?

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patacon (bond) Currencies of Argentina Bonds (finance) 2001 in Argentina 2001 in economic history