In Argentina of unstoppable inflation, a problem generated by the infrastructure under the control of the hard plumbing trade can cause a drama in the economic management of a government that has decided issue money like never before.
In the last months of the second half of last year, during a dramatic weekend, one of the bathrooms was on the ground floor of the Casa de Moneda (CM), the state agency responsible for producing money, suddenly flooded. Although recently refurbished, the rupture occurred after an unknown incontinence, imperceptible to the naked eye but harmful as the hidden paths through which the rainwater pipes go were checked.
The liquid leaked under the floor, which falls firmly and without brake into one of the basements of the building. The drip flooded the most precious thing found in that underground environment. One of the “treasures” of the always enigmatic entity that makes money. In that vault, a production awaited urgently requested by the Central Bank (BCRA) waited eagerly to fill the street with banknotes, before it was ready.
The sewage destroyed 250 thousand banknotes already ready for use, including heat-sealed. Sources familiar with this intrigue claim that this money was all paper money of the highest denomination. A thousand pesos. “Hornero”, as they are known in the internal jargon of the CM.
They had to be thrown out. A poorly furnished bathroom, with a budget of two thousand dollars per square meter for its renovation, damaged most of the boxes, the contents of which were equivalent to 250 million pesos. Wet. The Central Bank, chaired by Miguel Pesce, complained before the CM for delay in delivery of a material that had to be redone. LA CM is autonomous and the money it makes is funded by the BCRA. The wet money was not paid again between these two organizations. The CM had to take control of the remanufacture of the wet “Hornero” with its own budget.
The episode was described Clarion by sources who know the secret plot of everything that happens in the CM. Both in the central and historic building, in Retiro, and in the “new” headquarters, called “Don Torcuato”, perhaps to prevent it from being identified for what it is: the graphic plant declares that in the private sphere, before Beloved Boudou bought it illegally as Minister of Economy, it was Chalkographic siccone. The current owner of the Mint is Rodolfo Gabrielli, former governor of Mendoza, former minister.
Since he came to his position, the production of silver has never stopped. In Argentina, money is printed twenty-four hours a day, seven a week., three hundred and sixty-five days a year. The CM machines tremble. They were not made to never, ever, ever stop.
Perhaps for this reason new technology would have been acquired, worth several tens of millions in euros, which would supposedly serve to improve the preparation of banknotes, which would not only not stop, but would increase in spite of the fact that the Government wants to reduce the issuance. If prices continue to rise, and the accounts with the highest value remain those of a thousand, “Hornero”, there will be no machinery that can satisfy the voracious market. Or to the State, when he has to pay the bonuses of his employees in the middle of the year.
The toilet that caused the single plumbing disaster that affected the economic administration was the ladies toilet. Low level. Retirement Headquarters. It was new. Or so it seemed. The purchase, which is confirmed within the organization, was made to purchase new machinery, has to do with a new plan that will change the money in Argentina.
As reported to the media by one of the most influential managers in the CM, Human Resources, Exequiel Villagra, the government is ready to replace the current “family of banknotes” for a new one, without “animals” on their front and back. “The heroes are back”tells the heads of the CM enthusiastically.
As to whether there would be paper money of a higher denomination than the current one, just a few thousand pesos after the growing inflation, was the answer given “The Casa Rosada decides that.” Or “the Central Bank”. To this new panorama which, if confirmed, would be quite a novelty, perhaps not so effective for the macro- and micro-economy, is added unexpected disadvantages which may have made Villagra’s covert announcement a wrong scoop. The money-printing plates that were bought and that also worked non-stop never needed an element that was scarce all over the planet after Russia’s war against Ukraine. is the nickel.
Once the Russian struggle against Ukrainians began, nickel rose to levels unknown in recent history. Like other metals used by industries and largely manufactured by Russia, as well as aluminum and palladium. The problem is global and serious. The London Metal Exchange has stopped the price of nickel, which is used to make money, but also in car or battery factories. That was after a jump in its price of 250 percent within two days.
Villagra spoke for a sensitive issue, the new money that would start circulating in the streets, during a visit he made to his province, Chubut.
“Bills with animals will not be issued, the heroes are back. Our women are back. The following banknotes will have outstanding Argentine women and outstanding Argentine men, many of whom we have, “manager Villagra began and continued:”We think a new family of banknotes would come out in September or October with what I expect ”.
When the journalists before Villagra insisted whether with the return of the heroic accounts with a denomination greater than a thousand will be produced, “Hornero”, the official explained that it “depends on the Central Bank, it is the one that for we say, it’s a decision of the President, and the Vice President of the Nationthat they will tell us what the numbering will be, the amount, the value (of the new banknotes) ”.
Villagra made these statements in front of audiovisual media, with him on camera talking about these details. Villagra confirmed the purchase and installation of the new machinery to make paper money with “proceres”, an idea that the Casa Rosada also announced mid-last year but which ultimately did not happen. The multimillion-dollar cost in euros of the newly purchased printing presses could be an inevitable reason for the Government to take enlightened money into the streets, as has always happened throughout national history, with heroes of the country. Now the women would join. Which one is unknown.
Villagra also confirmed that during the pandemic, times of delivery in which the Mint did not stop working, Argentina was forced to rent two coins from abroad to increase unstoppable production. Even that import, which paradoxically is paid for in dollars, continues. The paper money of the pesos manufactured abroad was made in the Brazilian Currency and in Belgium, although the stock arrived in Spain from Spain.
The government has not made a formal announcement about the new bills.
But Villagra did confirm this with emphasis and joy. What the manager of the Mint did not mention is the problem that is currently generating the lack of nickel needed to design the new plates that should be designed to print “the return of the heroes”.
The deficit reached such a point that the Mint stopped minting coins, in a contradiction in terms.
Five and ten pesos.
There are no nickels or dollars to pay for that import.
Despite the fact that the issue required the full-time work of the employees of the Mint, headquarters and the former Ciccone, it was precisely in this last graphic plant that production stopped, even a little. It happens that a good portion of the employees of that headquarters want to be framed from the union point of view. Some of them belong to the graphic trade union, with salaries double those of their colleagues registered as members of state unions, such as ATE and UPCN. This caused protests that, at least for several hours, stopped the disrupted pressure of bills being used to buy less and less.
At the Casa de Moneda, many of its employees are also fighting to be allowed to join a guild opposed by the authorities. is the Association of Economics and Finance Staff (APEH), also the most representative in the CM.
The key organism of the economy of management K, fire. With internal problems. And with complaints and notable purchases:It was necessary to spend 800 thousand pesos on Easter eggs, how did that not happen this year? Why was the office that controls virtual wallets built into the CM on behalf of the BCRA? Why is the roof of that construction not completed?
Yesterday, Vice Cristina Kirchner referred to the book “Diary of a season on the fifth floor”by the sociologist Juan Carlos Torre, who recounts the years of the Alfonsine economy in detail.
In another book, that of the economic historian Neill Ferguson, called “The Triumph of Money”, a milestone in the CM is remembered during that time of hyperinflation.
That was when Argentina ran out of money. “The Mint no longer had paper to print and the printers also went on strike. It happened on April 28, 1989.
