Argentina and Brazil plan to create a Latam Common Currency

Argentina’s Minister of Economy Sergio Massa shared that the first steps discussed by both countries’ ministries involve creating a single monetary unit found between the two nations. The upcoming CELAC summit in Buenos Aires on Jan. 24 will feature a discussion on this subject.

Massa told the Financial Times that the discussion would revolve around initial considerations for the issuance of a coin named “sur.” Spanish for “south,” Massa stated:

“In order to create a common currency, important questions must be answered— such as how economies function, how large they should be and which financial institutions are necessary.”

Using the Euro as an example, Massa indicated that projects of this magnitude take a long time to become a reality. The union only adopted it after 35 years of development.He explained:

“I don’t want to create any false hopes for the project; this is just the first step on a long road Latam must travel.”

Giving Latin America a Welcome Opening.

In the long run, the project could be extended to include more countries from the Latin America region. Specifically, Massa noted that Brazil and Argentina invited other countries to participate in the project.

Brazil’s president, Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva, spoke favorably about creating a single currency for the entire continent during his presidential campaign. In May 2014, he hosted a party rally and announced his desire to participate in creating this project. Lula Da Silva explained that the objective of this project is to decrease Latam countries’ reliance on the US dollar.

Maduro, the president of Venezuela, supported the idea of including cryptocurrencies in the monetary system in November. He believed that this would be an extraordinary idea, and he encouraged other politicians to support it as well.