Ecuadorian sucre

The sucre (S/.) (ISO 4217: ECS) was the former legal tender of Ecuador. On January 9, 2000, it began to be replaced by the US dollar, during the presidency of Jamil Mahuad Witt (thirty-seventh president of the Republic of Ecuador) at an exchange rate of 25,000 sucres per dollar. The sucre was subdivided into 100 cents. Named after the Venezuelan Marshal Antonio José de Sucre, it was created on March 22, 1884 and was in force for 116 years.

Even after the dollarization process in the country, the Central Bank of Ecuador issues its own fractional currency denominated as Ecuadorian cents.

History

The Ecuadorian peso was renamed to the sucre on March 22, 1884, based on the silver standard. The sucre was defined as 22.5 g of fine silver (equivalent to 5 francs of the Latin Monetary Union). Substandard coins were withdrawn between 1887 and 1892, only high quality silver standard coins remained in circulation.

The fall in the international price of silver accelerated during the 1890s, and on November 3, 1898 Ecuador switched to the gold standard, with the sucre defined as 732,224 mg of fine gold (equivalent to 2 shillings of pound sterling).

As happened to other currencies, the sucre became inconvertible shortly before the start of World War I in 1914. The exchange rate continued its decline despite extensive measures issued to prevent it. It was finally stabilized during 1926, and on March 4, 1927, Ecuador adopted the gold exchange standard, with a sucre equal to 300.933 mg of fine gold or $0.20 (with a 58.8% devaluation).

The gold exchange standard was suspended on February 8, 1932. Exchange controls were adopted on April 30 and the official rate was set at 5.95 (buy) per US dollar. After the price of silver rose beyond the face value of most silver coins in the 1930s, Ecuador embargoed the export of silver (May 17, 1935). This was followed by numerous adjustments to the foreign exchange system despite the fact that the sucre continued to depreciate. Currency controls were finally lifted in September 1937 and the official exchange rate was set at 13.5 sucres per US dollar. The sucre was devalued to 14.77 sucres per dollar on June 4, 1940, and exchange controls were reimposed. The official exchange rate became 14 in 1942 and 13.5 in 1944.

The parity was registered with the International Monetary Fund on December 18, 1946, at 65.827 mg of fine gold (US$13.5), but in 1947 a system of multiple exchange rates was adopted. The sucre, at the request of the IMF, was devalued to 15 sucres per dollar in 1950, to 18 in 1961, and to 25 in 1970.

The sucre maintained a relatively stable exchange rate against the US dollar until 1983, when it was devalued to 42 to the dollar and a sliding parity was adopted. The depreciation gains momentum and the free market pushed it to more than 800 to the dollar in 1990 and almost 3,000 in 1995.

The sucre lost 67% of its foreign exchange value during 1999, and in one week plummeted 17%, ending at 25,000 sucres per US dollar on January 7, 2000. On January 9, 2000, President Jamil Mahuad Witt announced that the United States dollar would be adopted as Ecuador's official currency. The US dollar became legal tender in Ecuador on March 13, 2000, and the sucre ceased to have legal tender on September 9, 2000. The sucre was exchangeable at the Central Bank until September 8, 2000. June 2001 at 25,000 sucres per dollar.

Name

On March 22, 1884, during the Presidency of José María Plácido Caamaño, Ecuador adopted the sucre as the national monetary unit. The decree was issued by the Constituent Assembly meeting in Quito. There, Father Julio Matovelle proposed the name of Mariscal Sucre to denominate the country's currency, he did it to pay homage to one of the heroes of the region's independence wars.

Coins

Ecuadorian coins.

The Ecuadorian Sucre has two recognized periods in the French decimal system since April 1, 1884 when the decree was promulgated establishing a complete national numerary in silver and gold, according to the characteristics established by the UML. The silver monetary unit would be called sucre and would correspond to the strong peso of five French francs, while the gold monetary unit would be equivalent to ten sucres. In addition, there would be centesimal fractions made in nickel and silver (1/2, 1, 2 and 5 centavos; 1/2, 1 and 2 tenths, 1/2 sucre and sucre).

In 1917, coins of 2 ½, 5 and 10 cents were minted. After the First World War in 1928, the first remittances of coins arrived at the request of the newly created Central Bank of Ecuador: 1, 2 ½, 5, 10 and 50 cents, 1 and 2 sucres, 1 condor (equivalent to 25 sucres).

In 1937, a new currency law was passed in which for the first time a totally fiduciary monetary cone was established. Coins were minted with values of 5, 10, 20, 50 cents, 1, 2, and 5 sucres, the latter two in silver (1943-1944) and nickel in 1973 (they were not put into circulation, so they are very rare pieces for numismatists). The coin law of April 1937 established the most durable type for the Ecuadorian currency since its validity was maintained uninterruptedly until 1986.

In 1988, due to high inflation and the devaluation of the sucre, coins of 5, 10, 20, and 50 sucre were minted (along with 50 cents and 1 sucre that practically did not circulate).

The last sucre coins in circulation were 100, 500 and 1000 sucres minted in 1995 and 1996. In 2000 they were replaced by Ecuadorian cents.

Coins

Denomination	Image	Accusation	Denomination	Image	Accusation	Denomination	Image	Accusation
1 cents		1928	5 cents		1946	10 cents		1964
20 cents		1946	50 cents		1988	1 sucre		1980
1 sucre		1988-1992	2 sucres		1944	5 sucres		1988-1991
10 sucres		1987	20 sucres		1988	50 sucres		1988
100 sucres		1995	100 sucres		1997	500 sucres		1995
1000 sucres		1996	1000 sucres		1997

Tickets

The first banknotes denominated as sucre were issued by private banks. The Central Bank of Ecuador provisionally issued notes for 80 cents and 4 sucres between 1885 and 1887 due to a conversion rate of 5 pesos = 4 sucres for the previous note of this bank. Regular banknotes were issued until 1926 in values of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 sucres. 1 sucre banknotes issued by the Anglo-Ecuadorian Bank in 1885 and 1886, and by the Banco de Quito in 1885.

The Banco de la Unión issued banknotes between 1887 and 1895 in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20 and 100 sucres, while the International Bank issued banknotes between 1887 and 1894 in the denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 100, 500 and 1000 sucres. The Commercial and Agricultural Bank issued banknotes between 1895 and 1925 in values of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 sucres. The Banco del Pichincha issues bills of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 sucres between 1907 and 1924. The Banco del Azuay issues bills of 1, 2, 5 and 10 sucres between 1914 and 1924. The Agricultural and Industrial Credit Company issues 2 and 10 sucre bills in 1921. Finally, the Discount Bank issues 5 and 50 sucres in 1923 and 1924.

In 1925,1951 the Central Fund for Issuance and Amortization was appointed to make the transition of currency from private banks to a central bank. It issues bills in 1926 and 1927 in values of 1, 2, 5, 10 and 1000 sucres that were reprints of the bills issued by private banks.

The first banknotes of the Central Bank (Banco Central del Ecuador Sociedad Anónima) were issued in 1928 in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 sucres. These banknotes had a gold amortization clause, for example, It will pay the bearer at sight FIVE sucres in gold or gold giros (promises to pay the bearer at sight FIVE SUCRES in gold or gold of change). The gold clause was maintained in the Central Bank notes until 1939, when the text was modified to Pay FIVE Sucres to the bearer on sight. Other denominations of 500 and 1000 sucres were authorized in 1944.

In 1949-1 the Central Bank introduced new banknotes of a reduced size (157 × 68 mm) in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 sucres, and added the phrase Will pay the bearer on demand , leaving only the literal counter (ie, the name). All banknotes distributed since 1928 had been printed by the American Bank Note Company, but Waterlow and Sons now take over the contract for the issuance of the 5 and 50 sucre notes, which were the first Ecuadorian notes to have a security thread.. At the end of the 1950s Waterlow was abandoned in favor of Thomas de la Rue, which prints 5, 20, 50 and 100 sucre notes, while American Bank Note continued to print 5, 10, 20 and 100 sucre notes. Both printers' notes shared the same basic pattern, but while American Bank Note uses collar plates as a security device, de La Rue uses a metal thread. These notes went through several modifications, and fluorescent security ink was introduced around 1970. A small-sized 1,000 sucre note was finally put into circulation in 1973.

The next change came in 1975, when the back of all circulating banknotes was redesigned to display the new national coat of arms. A small bill of 500 sucres also appears at the end of the 70s.

Since 1984, the title Central Bank of Ecuador appears on banknotes, without the text Sociedad Anónima. And the printer's mark no longer appears on them. When inflation gained momentum, larger denominations were introduced: 5,000 in 1987, 10,000 in 1988, 20,000 in 1995, and 50,000 in 1996.

Ticket models

Denomination	Image	Circulated from	Dimensions	Character	Reversal
5 sucres		1928	140 × 65 mm	Antonio José de Sucre	Shield of Ecuador
10 sucres		1928	140 × 65 mm	Sebastian de Benalcázar	Shield of Ecuador
20 sucres		1928	140 × 65 mm	Church of the Society of Jesus in Quito	Shield of Ecuador
50 sucres		1928	140 × 65 mm	Column to the Procers of October 9	Shield of Ecuador
100 sucres		1928	140 × 65 mm	Simón Bolívar	Shield of Ecuador
500 sucres		1944	140 × 65 mm	Dr. Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espejo	Shield of Ecuador
1,000 sucres		1944	140 × 65 mm	Rumiñahui	Shield of Ecuador
5,000 sucres		1987	140 × 65 mm	Juan Montalvo	Galapagos Turtle
10,000 sucres		1988	140 × 65 mm	Vicente Rocafuerte	Independence Square (Quito)
20,000 sucres		1995	140 × 65 mm	Gabriel García Moreno	Shield of Ecuador
50,000 sucres		1996	140 × 65 mm	Eloy Alfaro	Shield of Ecuador

Banknotes used during the last years of the sucre (along with the 100, 500 and 1000 sucre coins) include:

• S/. 5,000 (front letter: writer/author Juan Montalvo of Ambato. Later face: Galapagos turtle), with value (in the time of dolarization) of US$ 0,20.
• S/. 10 000 (front letter: second president of Ecuador and (the first born in Ecuador) Vicente Rocafuerte. Later face: Monument to Independence in Quito (Plaza Grande)), worth US$ 0,40.
• S/. 20,000 (Farm Face: Conservative President Gabriel García Moreno. Later face: Shield of Ecuador), worth US$ 0.80.
• S/. 50,000 (front letter: liberal president Eloy Alfaro Delgado. Later face: Shield of Ecuador), with value of US$ 2.

Historical exchange rates

Sucres per US dollar

Source: ECB