Tag: currency

A South American currency union? Don’t hold your breath

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NEW YORK — South America is not likely to have a common currency bloc to rival the euro any time soon, analysts said on Monday, despite excited chatter sparked by officials in Brazil and Argentina raising the prospect of a shared tender.

On Monday Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentine President Alberto Fernandez said they were in early talks to establish a shared unit of value for bilateral trade, though this would not replace the real or peso currencies.

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That came after the leaders had touted a “common South American currency” on Sunday and officials told the Financial Times the tender could even be called the “sur” and eventually look to bring in other countries around South America.

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Analysts were quick to knock that down, following decades of similar talk with little to show for it, including shelved plans for a so-called “gaucho” for Argentina-Brazil trade in 1987 and former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro