Noboa Locks Ecuador Into the Dollar as Argentina Weighs Currency Competition in Latin America

Economy · Latin America

—The stakes. Dollarization Latin America now spans an official bloc of Ecuador, El Salvador and Panama plus creeping de facto adoption in Venezuela and Cuba.

—The date. Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa issued Decree 565 on March 18, 2025, ratifying the US dollar as sole legal tender.

—The policy fight. Argentina, under President Javier Milei, is debating whether currency competition can deliver what full dollarization promised elsewhere.

—The trade-off. Giving up a national currency has tamed inflation but left countries without a lender of last resort or an independent exchange rate.