Costa Rican colón

Exchange rate

On August 21, 2013, the United States dollar was worth 504.5 colones. The colón has had an unusual relationship with the U.S. dollar that may best be described as a "crawling peg"; instead of being defined by a constant value to the dollar, the colón instead would grow progressively weaker at a fixed rate of about 3.294 colones per dollar per month. On October 16, 2006, however, this crawling peg was modified due to weakness in the U.S. dollar and the perception that the colón is now undervalued.

The exchange rate is now free to float within a currency band referenced to the United States dollar. The floor of the band has been set at a fixed value, while the ceiling changes at a fixed rate. In practice the exchange rate has remained fixed at the lower value of the currency band.

Since October 17, 2006, the colón is no longer bound to controlled devaluations (known in Costa Rica as minidevaluaciones) by the Central Bank of Costa Rica. With the new system, sistema cambiario de bandas, the exchange rates posted by the Central Bank are a "reference" and each authorized financial institution can determine their value independently in hopes that the free market will provide a mechanism to keep them reasonable.

Symbol

The symbol for the colón is a capital letter "C" crossed by two diagonal strokes. The symbol is encoded at U+20A1 ₡ COLÓN SIGN (HTML ₡) and may be typed on many English language Microsoft Windows keyboards using the keystrokes ALT+8353.

The colón sign is not to be confused with U+00A2 ¢ cent sign (HTML ¢ · ¢), or with the Ghanaian cedi, U+20B5 ₵ CEDI SIGN (HTML ₵). Nonetheless, the commonly available cent symbol '¢' is frequently used locally to designate the colón in price markings and advertisements.

History

The colón was introduced in 1896, replacing the Costa Rican peso at par. The colón is divided into 100 centimos, although, between 1917 and 1919, coins were issued using the name centavo for the 1/100 subunit of the colón.

First coins, 1897–1917

Because the colón replaced the peso at par, there was no immediate need for new coins in 1896. In 1897, gold 2, 5, 10 and 20 colones were issued, followed by silver 50 centimos, and followed by cupro-nickel 2 centimos in 1903 and silver 5 and 10 centimos in 1905. The 5 and 10 centimos bore the initials G.C.R., indicating that they were issues of the government.

Centavo issues, 1917–1919

In 1917, coins were issued in denominations of 5 and 10 centavos rather than centimos. 50 centavo coins were minted but not issued (see below). All bore the G.C.R. initials.

Government issues, 1920–1941

The issuance of centimo coins by the government (still indicated by the initials G.C.R.) was resumed in 1920, with 5 and 10 centimos issued. In 1923, silver 25 and 50 centimos from the peso currency, along with the unissued 50 centavos from 1917 and 1918, were issued with counterstamps which doubled their values to 50 centimos and 1 colón.

In 1925, silver 25 centimo coins were introduced. The last government issued coins were brass 10 centimos issued between 1936 and 1941.

Banco Internacional issues, 1935

In 1935, the International Bank of Costa Rica issued cupro-nickel coins in denominations of 25 and 50 centimos and 1 colón. These bore the initials B.I.C.R.

Banco Nacional issues, 1937–1948

In 1937, the National Bank introduced coins in denominations of 25 and 50 centimos and 1 colón which bore the initials B.N.C.R. These were followed by 5 and 10 centimos in 1942 and 2 colones in 1948.

Banco Central issues, 1951–

In 1951, the Central Bank took over coin issuance using the initials B.C.C.R. while introducing 5 and 10 centimo coins. These were followed by 1 and 2 colones in 1954, 50 centimos in 1965 and 25 centimos in 1967. In 1982–1983, 5 and 10 centimo coins were discontinued, the sizes of the 25 centimo to 2 colón coins were reduced and 5, 10 and 20 colón coins were introduced. Between 1995 & 1998, smaller, brass 1, 5 and 10 colón coins were introduced and coins for 25, 50 & 100 colones were added. 500 colones followed in 2003. Aluminium 5 and 10 colones were introduced in 2006. Coins of 1 colón are no longer found in circulation. In 2009 the larger, silver-coloured ₡5, ₡10 & ₡20 were gradually withdrawn leaving the small, lighter, ₡5 and ₡10 and the gold-coloured ₡5, ₡10, ₡25, ₡50, ₡100 & ₡500 coins circulating.

Nicknames

The colón is sometimes referred to as the peso, which was the name of the Costa Rican currency before the colón, until 1896. This is very common across Latin American countries, where most have (or had at some point) currencies called pesos. Another slang name is caña (Spanish for sugar cane, plural cañas) but this term is more often used in its plural form and for amounts under 100 colones with multiples of ten, except for 5 e.g.: 5 cañas, 10 cañas, 20 cañas, etcetera. This term has become less common.

Teja (roof tile) is the slang term for one hundred colones, so that five hundred colones coins and notes are called "cinco tejas", while fifty colones coins and notes are referred to as "media Teja" (half roof tile).

The former five hundred colones note was called "morado" (purple) because of its colour, but it is no longer in circulation.

The one thousand colones note is called "un rojo" (one red) because of its colour. This also applies for any amounts that are multiples of a thousand colones (e.g. twenty thousand colones = veinte rojos).

The five thousand colones note is called tucán (toucan), referring to the image of a toucan it once carried (it now features a monkey). It can also be named "una Libra" (one pound), although this term is no longer in common use.

The ten thousand colones note is also known as un puma, referring to the puma printed on one of its faces.