Over the
next six months, Barcelona’s left-wing city council plans to roll
out a cash-less local currency that has the potential to become the
largest of its kind in the world. The main goal of the project,
according to a council spokesperson, is to boost economic
opportunities for local businesses and traders.
The idea is
for local stores and residents to be able to exchange euros for the
new currency at a one-to-one parity, and use it to purchase products
and services at a discount or with other kinds of incentives. But it
doesn’t end there: the new parallel currency may also be used to
pay certain subsidies, taxes and local services such as public
transport, reports El País. Municipal workers could also receive
part of their salary in the new money.
Barcelona
will not be the first European city to launch such a scheme. Local
currencies are all the rage these days. There could be as many as
3,000 forms of local money in use around the globe, says Community
Currencies in Action, a global partnership promoting such schemes
that is part-funded by the European Union’s Regional Development
Fund. Which begs the question…
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