Gaucho (currency)


The Gaucho was the name of a currency intended to be used by Argentina and Brazil in the context of the Argentina-Brazil Integration and Economics Cooperation Program or PICE to make interregional payments. It was named after the gauchos typical of both Argentina and Southern Brazil.
After the signing of the Protocol Number 20, in 1987, no further action was ever taken by any of the countries to effectively put the currency into use. Mercosur, an economic bloc including Brazil and Argentina, establishing broader economic integration, was created in 1991, without any initial plans to establish a common currency. Later, in 1994, Brazil established the Brazilian real, still in use, putting an end to the frequent currency changes that took place in the country throughout the 1980s and the 1990s. On such panorama, the Gaucho plan has been virtually shelved.

Declaration

On 17 July 1987, in the city of Viedma, President Raúl Alfonsín of Argentina and President José Sarney of Brazil signed Protocol Number 20 which stated the following:
Considering:
  1. To create a common currency unit named “Gaucho”, expressing its value in terms determined by agreement by the Central Banks of both countries. The Central Banks will issue and back the new currency with a reserve fund;
  2. To create for such objective an Argentina-Brazil Reserve Fund administered by both Central Banks;
  3. To determine that the results of the bilateral clearing performed each quarter should be paid with the common currency unit up to an issuing limit initially agreed at 200 million units;
  4. To determine that each Central Bank opens accounts in its books aimed to register the movements of the Reserve Fund;
  5. To determine that the Central Banks establish, before 30 October 1987, an interbank agreement for the implementation of the Argentine-Brazilian currency unit.
Viedma, 17 July 1987