The Bolivian boliviano
Currency · BOB · Bs · 1 country
Bolivia brought in the boliviano on 1 January 1987 and took six zeros off its money doing it: one new boliviano replaced a million pesos bolivianos after years of inflation. The Banco Central de Bolivia issues it. Its notes since 2018 are the first to carry the country's formal name, the Plurinational State of Bolivia.
The abbreviation
Bs abbreviates bolivianos and goes before the figure, so the notes run from Bs10 to Bs200. The centavo, a hundredth of a boliviano, is abbreviated c., written the same way: the coins in circulation run from c.10 to Bs5.
- ISO code
- BOB
- ISO number
- 068
- Subunit
- centavo, 1/100
An amount, written out
Bs 1,234.50
- Bs 1,234.50English
Where the Bolivian boliviano is the official currency
Bolivia has it to itself. Its central bank issues the notes and coins and posts an official dollar rate every day.
About the Bolivian boliviano
Who issues the boliviano
Law 632, passed on 20 July 1928, set up the bank that became the Banco Central de Bolivia; it took that name on 20 April 1929 and opened for business on 1 July 1929. It runs monetary policy and holds the job of issuing the country's coins and notes. It still publishes an official dollar rate on its home page, dated by the day.
Which currencies came before it
Bolivia has used the name before. The first boliviano ran from 1864 to 1963, worth eight soles and split into 100 centécimos, later centavos. The peso boliviano took over in 1963 at 1,000 of those bolivianos, and inflation over the following years wore it down until it was replaced at a million to one. When the second boliviano arrived in 1987 it was worth roughly half a US dollar.
The first months were improvised. The bank overprinted the last peso notes and some bank cheques with new values in centavos and bolivianos to cover 1987, and regular notes from 2 to 200 bolivianos followed within the year.
How the coins and notes have changed
Coins have slowly taken over the small values. A 2 boliviano coin replaced its note in 1991 and a bimetallic 5 boliviano coin did the same in 2001, though the bank listed the 5 boliviano note as circulating until 2013. Every coin carries the motto La unión es la fuerza, union is strength. The older ones name the Republic of Bolivia, and the newer ones the Plurinational State.
In 2018 the bank started a new family of notes, one denomination at a time, beginning with the 10 and reaching the 200 in April 2019. Each note in the family puts three figures from Bolivian history on the front and a landscape, plant or animal on the back: the Salar de Uyuni on the 10, Nevado Sajama with Andean flamingos and quinoa on the 50.
Why some notes lost their value after a crash
From 28 February to 2 March 2026 the Banco Central de Bolivia suspended legal tender for 10, 20 and 50 boliviano notes of the 2018 series whose serial numbers end in B. The step followed the crash of a Bolivian Air Force Lockheed C-130 that year. The bank published the serial ranges of the notes that had been in the crash and declared them worthless, then restored full validity to the rest of the B series from Monday 2 March.
What became of the fixed dollar rate
From November 2011 the central bank bought and sold US dollars at buying and selling prices it set itself, and held them there for years. Dollars grew scarce from 2023, and a parallel market set up in the streets and in some exchange houses. On 29 June 2026 the fixed official rate was dropped for a flexible one tied to that parallel market.
Alongside the boliviano sits the MVDOL, ISO code BOV, a unit of account that holds its value against the US dollar and is used in financial contracts. Its name comes from moneda nacional con mantenimiento de valor al dólar estadounidense.
Common questions
Questions about the Bolivian boliviano
Why did Bolivia take six zeros off its money in 1987?
Years of inflation had worn the peso boliviano down so far that a US dollar cost between 1.8 and 1.9 million pesos. On 1 January 1987 the government replaced it with a new boliviano at one million pesos to one, which made the new unit worth roughly half a dollar. Until proper notes arrived the central bank overprinted the old peso notes with values in centavos and bolivianos.
How can the 1 and 2 boliviano coins be told apart?
The 2 boliviano coin has been struck in two sizes, and both are legal tender. The smaller one is close to the 1 boliviano coin in size, which invites mistakes, but the shapes differ: the 2 boliviano coin has eleven sides and the 1 boliviano coin is round.
Which Bolivian banknotes were cancelled after the 2026 plane crash?
Notes of 10, 20 and 50 bolivianos from the 2018 series with serial numbers ending in B, and of those only the ones whose serials fall inside the ranges the central bank published as having been in the crash of a Bolivian Air Force Lockheed C-130. The bank declared those notes worthless. The suspension of the whole B series lasted from 28 February to 2 March 2026, when the rest of the series became fully valid again.
What is the MVDOL in Bolivia?
A unit of account with the ISO code BOV, used in financial instruments. Its value is adjusted between the boliviano and the US dollar so that it keeps pace with the dollar, and the name abbreviates the Spanish for national currency with its value maintained against the US dollar. It exists only as a unit of account.