With Argentina looking seriously at dollarizing its economy, other Latin American countries have rejected the idea - senior figures in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia say it's unsuitable for their countries and some analysts agree with them. One adds that even to dollarize Argentina is a project that would take years rather than months to implement.
Colombia's finance minister, Juan Camilo Restrepo, said in London in January: "We will not see any dollarization of the Colombian economy. We have an exchange rate policy which is clear and working properly. We have an independent central bank dealing with monetary policy. In Colombia we don't foresee changing to a currency board [the system Argentina has now whereby every peso in circulation is backed by dollar reserves] although we recognize that the Argentine authorities have been doing a good job. But it's not a scheme to be imitated by everyone."
Colombian government executives point out that the country has not suffered the hyperinflations that drove Argentina to adopt its currency board and that it is fiscal and monetary regimes that really determine whether any currency system holds up. Since coming to office six months ago the government of Andres Pastrana has moved swiftly to reduce the fiscal deficit to a target of 2% of GDP.