5 Pesos

This note entered circulation in the wake of Argentina's 2001–2002 financial collapse, when the peso had just been unpegged from the dollar after a decade of convertibility. The Banco Central was rebuilding public trust in domestic currency from essentially zero — a 5-peso note in early 2003 was worth a fraction of what the pre-crisis equivalent had commanded, and Argentines who remembered the corralito were in no hurry to hold paper.

Casa de Moneda de Argentina printed the entire series domestically, an intentional assertion of self-sufficiency following years of reliance on foreign security printers. The security specification is modest by contemporary standards — watermark and thread only, no color-shifting ink or microprinting — reflecting both budget constraints and the relatively low face value.