Córdoba (Nicaraguan currency)

The Nicaraguan córdoba is the legal tender in Nicaragua. It is divided into 100 cents and its ISO 4217 code is NIO. Its circulation is controlled by the Central Bank of Nicaragua. It is common to also call it "weight" unofficially.

History

The córdoba was introduced on August 25, 1912, under the presidency of Adolfo Díaz, when the Monetary Conversion Decree Law was promulgated and a 10 córdobas coin was issued containing 1.672 g of gold. This new monetary unit replaces the current currency peso at the effective exchange rate of 12½ pesos per córdoba.

Treasury Bills were gradually exchanged for the new currency that had a parity exchange rate of 5 córdobas per pound sterling. On November 13, 1931, the córdoba began trading at a parity rate of 1.10 córdobas per US dollar. After successive devaluations, the córdoba began to trade at a stable parity rate of 7 córdobas per US dollar between 1946 and April 1979.

The National Bank of Nicaragua was a partnership between Nicaraguan and US bankers. This served so that the US dollar-córdoba parity was one dollar per córdoba until 1940 when Anastasio Somoza García devalued it to 10 córdobas per dollar.

Córdoba was named in commemoration of the second surname of the Spanish conqueror, a native of Cabra, Captain Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, founder of the cities of Granada and León.

On February 14, 1988, the government of the Sandinista National Liberation Front carried out a lightning exchange of the currency, withdrawing and exchanging in a few days all the currency in circulation for new coins and bills of new córdoba (or formally called revalued córdoba ) with a value of 1,000 “old” córdobas. This measure is taken in the context of the civil war that the country was suffering and that had caused accelerated inflation, which was around 3333%.

Bill of 1,000,000 córdobas of 1990. Overprint on a 1,000 ticket without use.

After winning the presidential elections in February 1990, the UNO coalition named Violeta Barrios de Chamorro president of Nicaragua. The Central Bank of Nicaragua, which maintains the Sandinista Francisco Mayorga Balladares as its president, puts into circulation the so-called "golden cordoba" within the Government's National Salvation Plan within the stabilization and structural adjustment, which came into force as of May 1990. This issue had parity equal to the US dollar, but maintaining the Córdoba as the official currency as approved in the country's constitution.

The introduction of the new currency is accompanied by a public confidence campaign regarding its stability. The gold córdoba circulated for six months together with the old córdobas. In a matter of 4 months, the equivalent of 40 million dollars circulated through Nicaragua. The campaign was successful since the citizens accepted the gold córdoba as valid national currency.

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  A 1984 córdoba.

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  Cordoba prior to the Sandinista Revolution.

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  Cordoba of the Sandinista Revolution period.

On March 3, 1991, the Chamorro government launched a successful monetary stabilization plan that managed to curb the hyperdevaluation that had been plaguing the country and finally achieved the long-awaited price, exchange, and monetary stability, as well as stopping the spiral recession that plagued the country since the previous decade. As of January 1993, the country went to the mini-devaluation system, which currently, since 2019, is 3% per year. The first new facial added to the current metallic monetary cone, between 5 cents and 5 córdobas, was the 10 córdobas, the issuance of this coin took place for the first time on June 16, 2008.

Coins

Tickets