Argentina's Currency: The Argentine Peso (ARS)
The currency of Argentina is the Argentine peso, code ARS, symbol $. One US dollar is currently worth about 1,495 pesos.
- Currency name
- Argentine peso
- Symbol
- $ (sometimes AR$)
- ISO code
- ARS
- Subunit
- Centavo (1/100)
- Issued by
- Banco Central de la República Argentina
- In use since
- 1992
Banknotes and coins
Years of high inflation have pushed the peso's banknotes to ever-larger face values. To keep cash practical, Argentina's central bank has introduced higher-denomination notes in recent years, including 2,000, 10,000 and 20,000 peso notes. Coins and small centavo values have largely fallen out of everyday use because they are worth so little.
Why the peso is unusual
Unlike most currencies, the peso has often traded at several exchange rates at once: an official rate alongside the informal blue dollar and financial-market rates (MEP and CCL). For years a strict set of currency controls known as the cepo held the official rate well below these parallel rates. Most of those controls were lifted in 2025 and the peso now floats within a managed band, so the gap between the official and parallel rates has narrowed sharply. For the full backstory, see the history of the Argentine peso.
Frequently asked questions
What is the currency of Argentina?+
The currency of Argentina is the Argentine peso, currency code ARS, symbol $. It has been the country's currency since 1992 and is issued by the central bank, the Banco Central de la República Argentina.
What is the symbol for the Argentine peso?+
The Argentine peso uses the dollar sign, $. To avoid confusion with the US dollar, it is sometimes written as AR$ or ARS. Its subunit is the centavo, though centavos have effectively disappeared from use due to inflation.
What is Argentina's currency called?+
It is called the peso, or more precisely the Argentine peso. Locals often just say 'pesos', and slang terms like 'mango' (a peso) and 'luca' (a thousand pesos) are common in everyday speech.