2 Pesos

Catamarca's 2006 emergency quasi-currency belongs to the wave of provincial bonds that proliferated across Argentina during and after the 2001–2002 financial collapse, when the federal government froze bank deposits and the peso's convertibility with the US dollar collapsed entirely. Provinces lacking cash to pay salaries and suppliers began issuing their own instruments — technically bonds redeemable in pesos, but functioning as circulating currency in practice. Catamarca was among the poorer northwestern provinces with limited fiscal reserves, making reliance on these instruments particularly acute.

By 2006, most provinces had already retired their quasi-currencies under federal pressure and debt-swap arrangements. A Catamarca issuance that late is notable — worth investigating whether this represents a genuine late circulation issue or a redemption-period reprint.