Corralito
Corralito (German: Ställchen; from Spanish corral 'stall') is the slang term for an Argentine system to restrict the circulation of cash, which was introduced by the Fernando de la Rúa government in 2001 during the Argentina crisis .
In December 2001, after several pessimistic voices about the country's economic situation, there were increasing signs of a massive flight of capital from the Argentine banking system. As a last stopgap, Minister of Economic Affairs Domingo Cavallo introduced a cash limit: account holders were only allowed to withdraw 250 pesos per week from each account. The system should encourage the Argentines to pay cashless and above all prevent massive US dollar purchases. However, it could not prevent the devaluation in early 2002 and led to various panic reactions.
The Corralito remained in its original form until the beginning of 2002, when it was converted into the so-called Corralón (German: large stable) under the new government under Eduardo Duhalde . The restriction on withdrawing cash has been gradually relaxed in this new law, but all accounts above a limit of 10,000 pesos have been frozen and should be returned at a later period between March 2002 and the end of 2010, depending on the size of the account. The Corralón had a serious impact on the sale of durable and high-priced consumer goods such as automobiles, as well as the Argentine real estate market.
In 2003 the Corralón was also gradually dissolved. This was made possible by the so-called Pesificación (2002–2003), the conversion of all dollar-denominated accounts into Argentine pesos , which relieved the Argentine banking system.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Susana Maria Urbano Mateos: Qué es un corralito financiero. September 22, 2017, Retrieved May 17, 2019 (Spanish).