Argentina’s Central Bank (BCRA) announced on Thursday that it will put AR$10,000 and AR$20,000 bills into circulation this year, making the logistics of the financial system more efficient and allowing for a significant reduction in production costs of finished banknotes.

In a statement, the BCRA indicated that in order to save costs and shorten production times, the Board of Directors decided to use existing designs within the “Heroines and Heroes of the Motherland” family for the new banknotes.

The decision comes after 2023 officially ended with a 211% annual inflation rate, the highest in Latin America.

The new notes could be available to the public as soon as June.

The AR$10,000 bill will feature the images of Manuel Belgrano and María Remedios del Valle, heroine of the Independence War.

The image of Belgrano that will be used on the banknotes is a portrait attributed to French artist François Casimir Carbonnier. The heroine’s image belongs to the piece “La Capitana” by Argentine artist Gisela Banzer. On the back of the AR$10,000 bill, the main motif will be the artistic depiction of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag held on February 27, 1812.

The main figure in the AR$20,000 bill will be Juan Bautista Alberdi, inspirer of the 1853 National Constitution. The Argentine forefather was a lawyer, diplomat, economist, writer, philosopher, journalist and politician.

The new banknotes will retain the size of the current bills in circulation and will be printed on cotton paper, with regular safeguards including watermarks and a security thread.

Other security elements will be incorporated mostly for the general public, but will also allow machine recognition.

-Télam