The form of currency used in Costa Rica is called the colon or colones in its plural form. The currency was named after Christopher Columbus and introduced as the main form of currency in Costa Rica during the year 1896. Today, the Costa Rican colon holds a steady value in relation to the US dollar, but this hasn't always been the case.



In the past, the Costa Rican colon lost value in relation to the dollar at the rate of 3.294 colones per month. Last year, weakness in the US dollar and the belief that the colon was highly undervalued led to a modification in the way that the colon was valued next to the US dollar. As of October 16, 2006, the Costa Rican colon has been valued at around 517 colones per US dollar.

The colon is similar to the US dollar in that it is divided into 1/100 or centimos. Costa Rica also uses a series of coins and bank notes or paper money to represent different amounts of currency. A major difference between the two currencies, though, is that all of Costa Rica's coins represent a whole amount of colones. For example: A US quarter represents ? of a dollar, but the smallest colon coin represents 5 whole colones. This is because all of the coins that valued at fractions of the colon were rendered obsolete by the Central Bank and taken out of circulation.

Here is a list of the coins and bank notes currently being circulated in Costa Rica:

?5 colones coin

?10 colones coin

?20 colones coin

?25 colones coin

?50 colones coin

?100 colones coin

?500 colones coin

?1,000 colones bank note

?2,000 colones bank note

?5,000 colones bank note

?10,000 colones bank note

To find out the exchange rate of the Costa Rican colon in relation to other currencies used throughout the world check out the official daily exchange rates issued by major financial institutions.

by David Lovendahl, Costa Vista Marketing