When does the quasi-currency of La Rioja stop circulating?

The government of Rioja announced that the “Chacho”, the quasi-currency issued – not without controversy – by the management of Ricardo Quintela to pay public salaries, has an expiration date.

The bonus – which referred to times of crisis in 2001 and was an alternative to the direct dispute between the Peronist governor and the central administration of Javier Milei – will stop circulating on December 31 of this year.

The announcement was made by the provincial Minister of Finance Jorge Quinteros, who in turn revealed that the local ruling party will pay a plus salarial of $300 thousand in two installments of $100 thousand and two of $50 thousand to state workers.

In response to the financial crisis that the province was going through at the beginning of the year that it refused to adjust, aggravated by cuts in National funds and the devaluation, the Debt Cancellation Bonus (Bocade), promoted by Quintela as a quasi-currency tribute to the leader Ángel “Chacho” Peñaloza, began to circulate on July 1.

They had been approved by the local Legislature at the end of February. At that time, the governor argued that the issuance of the bonds would reactivate the local economic circuit and help consumption. They did not transcend neither the results nor the reasons for its end.

Quintela promoted the broadcast of “Chachos” for a total of $22.5 billion, of which 30% went to paying salaries of public employees. According to provincial regulations, these bonds could be used to acquire products in participating stores or for the payment of services and taxes provincial, implementation that encountered resistance in the market.

Given this announcement, President Javier Milei warned that the Nation was not going to take responsibility of the debt generated with these bonds.

At the end of August, La Rioja reported in a note addressed to the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange that it was not going to pay neither the principal nor the interest of international bonds maturing in 2028, arguing that it was in the process of negotiating with creditors. It had to be paid at that time, 26 million dollars.

The financial conflict occurred in the middle of a political confrontation between the Peronist who unsuccessfully tried to preside over the PJ and the President. The governor was one of the most intransigent critics of the libertarian administration. At a time before the elections, Quintela stated that he was going to resign to his charge if the La Libertad Avanza candidate won, which reflected the tension between both leaders. He didn’t do it.

His latest statements against the head of state were no less incendiary. He predicted that he would not finish his term, projecting a scenario of social unrest, a scenario at least contradictory to your decision to go back with the provincial quasi-currency.