Word: pesetas
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...were only part of the turmoil: the British pound, the French franc and the Italian lira also tumbled, and the Mexican peso resumed its free fall until the country's harsh new austerity plan led to a rebound. On top of that, governments were forced to devalue the Spanish peseta, the Portuguese escudo and the Brazilian real...
...extent to which fear and loathing still hold Europe in their grip is also demonstrated by the current crisis in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). This crisis, which in the past two weeks has seen the British pound and Italian lira suspended from the ERM, the Spanish peseta significantly devalued, and the French franc under serious attack, has brought out of the closet all of the chauvinist habits of the pre-war years...
...Italian lira found itself under attack too, even though Rome had tried to anticipate traders with a 7% devaluation at the beginning of the week. Italy quickly followed Britain out of the European Monetary System. Meanwhile, the Spanish peseta was devalued by 5%, and Sweden (not a member of the European Community, but exposed to its economic winds) raised its overnight interbank lending rate to a towering 500% in a desperate bid to support the % krona. As the Germans resisted pressure for a further cut in interest rates, the French, Danish and Irish currencies all found themselves struggling...
Meanwhile, more and more newcomers could be seen trying to figure out a city where pijamas are desserts and streets have periods in the middle of their names (Paral.Lel). Journalists were struggling to work out why three different coins were worth a peseta (less than a cent) and whether the regal Placa de Catalunya really was enhanced by an enormous inflatable M & M. More than a half-century ago, Barcelona, the city of seasoned oppositionists, had been all set to hold the "People's Games," to counter the Hitler Olympics of Berlin. But civil war interceded. Now, as fireworks lighted...