“It will not be rescued by the National Government”

Javier Milei Ricardo Quintela’s decision for La Rioja to have its own currency was celebrated this Tuesday, an announcement that came amid protests and a police strike in the northwest province. The President recalled that they treated him as “crazy” for postulating the possibility of local currencies and exclaimed: “Long live competition.” At the same time, however, he warned that the national government It is not going to come to the rescue of those monetary tools in the event of a crisis.

“To think that in the campaign they treated me like crazy for postulating a scheme in which there would be free currency competition and now they are promoting it!!!”, wrote the President on his Twitter account. Precisely, Quintela is one of the leaders who confront him the most, even with a threat of resignation before his victory in the runoff.

“Welcome the provincial currencies to the competition, which, I want to point out, are a difference from what happened in the past, in no way are they going to be rescued by the National Government“Milei warned about the measure promoted by Quintela, which has not yet defined whether its will be a physical or virtual currency.

The head of the national Executive also evaluated the measure from a liberal-libertarian perspective. “Long live the competition,” he exclaimed in the message on social networks.

“At the same time, the price they have with respect to parity will give a market evaluation of the quality of the Government that issues it!!!”, Milei added.

At the end, as a postscript, he left a sharp comment for Quintela and the rest of the governors.

“Do not forget that the Nation has had to face the correction of a deficit of 15% of the GDP, while all the provincial boards add 1% of the GDP. With such an advantage, Unless they are VERY BAD, they would have to be quoted far above par,” he emphasized to the President.

On Sunday, Milei had questioned Quintela about the crisis that the Rioja administration is going through. “He hired Lali Espósito and he has no money for the Police, it is not our problem,” she detached herself from the situation.

The possibility of their own currency had hovered over the situation of the provinces since the change of government. No leader had advanced in that direction until Quintela took a step forward in the middle of a crisis with protests that included the police strike.

After a day of retention of tasks, which left the government and provincial bank headquarters without official custody, the Rioja president confirmed that he is considering launching his own currency. He did so through a statement released by spokespersons from the Government House, in which he granted salary increases for the security forces (the claim that motivated his protest) and anticipated a state expense savings scheme.

Regarding the main novelty, Quintela referred, in principle, to a “own virtual currency that serves as a tool to address the lack of resources that the province is experiencing.”

For this lack of resources, he blames the Milei government, who in recent weeks has been demanding more than 9 billion pesos. But the national government “turns a deaf ear to this request, leaving aside the needs of the provinces,” he complained.

Hours later he gave details on the monetary instrument itself and noted that it could be physical, not virtual.

“We already had it on one occasion, and it was called Certified Debt Cancellation Bonus when Carlos Menem was governor. And another in 2000 or 2001, which was called Bocad. With that a percentage of salary was paid, which is what We plan to do it now until the situation with the Nation is normalized,” explained Quintela, who called extraordinary sessions to discuss the project.

And he continued with his explanations: “The currency works with a percentage in cash and a percentage in bonds. These bonds are received by the province for the payment of services, taxes and fees. Regarding trade, it must be agreed with the Chamber of “Commerce so that currency receives this as a form of payment.”