The austral was the currency of Argentina between June 15, 1985 and December 31, 1991. It was subdivided into 100 centavos. The symbol was an uppercase A with an extra horizontal line, code point U+20B3₳AUSTRAL SIGN. This symbol appeared on all coins issued in this currency (including centavos), to distinguish them from earlier currencies. The ISO 4217 code is ARA.
In 1992, the austral was itself replaced by the peso convertible at a rate of 1 peso convertible = 10,000 australes.
Coins
In 1985, coins were introduced for 1⁄2, 1, 5, 10 and 50 centavos. The 1⁄2 centavo was only issued in 1985, whilst production of the 1 centavo ceased in 1987, 5 centavo ceased in 1988, and that of the other centavo coins ended in 1989. In 1989, 1, 5 and 10 austral coins were issued, followed in 1990 and 1991 by 100, 500 and 1,000 austral denominations.
All banknotes except the provisional types show on the back an image of Liberty with a torch and shield. The provisional banknotes were produced from modified peso ley plates. On the obverses, the word PESOS were erased, whilst the reverse designs substituted the picture with the denomination written in words without spaces in several rows. The denomination was shown on both faces in the form A 10 MIL (10,000 australes), A 50 MIL (50,000 australes) and A 500 MIL (500,000 australes).
Argentina
