Argentina's President-elect Javier Milei said on Friday that the closure of the country's central bank, a signature campaign pledge, was a "non-negotiable matter", according to a statement from his office posted on social media platform X.
In 2002, there was a major bank freeze overnight in Argentina. They reopened months later, and because of how they now pegged to the dollar, the value of the accounts were functionally cut in half. In those months, many local neighborhoods invented their own bartering systems and it was a whole mess.
This was around the time the USA invaded Afghanistan, which explains why most people don’t know about it, but it was obviously a major event for Argentina.
That was a freeze of citizen’s personal accounts, not a shutdown. People were not allowed to access and retrieve their own money from their personal bank accounts. This is different. This is the Central (National) Bank, and a shutdown at it. Not individuals bank accounts, if I understand what’s going on correctly.
Oh yeah, a bank shutdown turned out great for Argentina the last time they did it.
I missed that previous time, I did a quick Google search but I’m not getting results. Would you know roughly when that happened?
In 2002, there was a major bank freeze overnight in Argentina. They reopened months later, and because of how they now pegged to the dollar, the value of the accounts were functionally cut in half. In those months, many local neighborhoods invented their own bartering systems and it was a whole mess.
This was around the time the USA invaded Afghanistan, which explains why most people don’t know about it, but it was obviously a major event for Argentina.
That was a freeze of citizen’s personal accounts, not a shutdown. People were not allowed to access and retrieve their own money from their personal bank accounts. This is different. This is the Central (National) Bank, and a shutdown at it. Not individuals bank accounts, if I understand what’s going on correctly.
El Corralito