As Argentina eyes dollarization, Zimbabwe and Ecuador offer clues

From Zimbabwe’s capital Harare to Quito in Ecuador, inexperienced payments circulating on the streets and in retailers with pictures of U.S. presidents mirror a wide selection that has been made: choosing the greenback over the native foreign money to deliver financial stability.

The 2 nations provide classes — and warnings — for Argentina, the newest nation globally to toy with the thought of ditching an embattled native tender in favor of the dollar, a signature marketing campaign pledge of President-elect Javier Milei.

Dollarization or the part-way possibility of a peg to the greenback have usually been triggered as a last-ditch choice to tame hyperinflation and lack of confidence within the native foreign money, as was the case within the Nineties with crisis-ridden Ecuador and in El Salvador within the aftermath of civil battle.