10 Australes

The austral was introduced in 1985 as Argentina's attempted escape from the peso's inflationary collapse, with the Alfonsín government's Austral Plan briefly stabilizing prices through wage and price freezes. It didn't hold. By 1989, annual inflation had exceeded 3,000 percent, and the 10 australes denomination — essentially worthless within months of minting — was already being lapped by the hyperinflationary spiral that would force Alfonsín to hand power to Menem five months early, the first such transfer between elected presidents in decades.