Costa Rican colón
Worldwide use:
- Costa Rica
Description:
The Costa Rican Colón is used in Costa Rica but the US Dollar is also accepted in some parts of the country. One Costa Rican Colón is worth 100 Centimos. Coins are distributed in 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 500 Colones and banknotes come in 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000, 20000 and 50000 Colones.
The Costa Rican Colón is named after Christopher Columbus ("Cristóbal Colón" in Spanish). New Costa Rican Colón banknotes are made in different lengths so that the visually impaired can easily identify different denominations. Also, older coins are silver in color and larger in size compared to the newer coins which are smaller and gold in color.
Origin:
The Costa Rican Colón was first launched in 1896 to replace the Costa Rican Peso. Originally the currency was based on a crawling rate exchange rate with the United States Dollar, but this lead to a devaluation so was stopped in 2006. Instead, the Costa Rican Colón now works within a range of exchange rates pegged to the US Dollar.
Component units:
- Centimos (100)
Date introduced:
- 1896
Central bank:
- Central Bank of Costa Rica
Printer:
Mint:
- Mint of Costa Rica