QUITO/HARARE/BUENOS AIRES ¨C From Zimbabwe¡¯s capital Harare to Quito in Ecuador, green bills circulating on the streets and in shops with images of U.S. presidents reflect a big choice that has been made: picking the dollar over the local currency to bring economic stability.
The two countries offer lessons ¡ª and warnings ¡ª for Argentina, the latest nation globally to toy with the idea of ditching an embattled local tender in favor of the greenback, a signature campaign pledge of President-elect Javier Milei.
Dollarization or the part-way option of a peg to the dollar have generally been triggered as a last-ditch option to tame hyperinflation and loss of confidence in the local currency, as was the case in the 1990s with crisis-ridden Ecuador and in El Salvador in the aftermath of civil war.
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