The Chilean peso
Currency · CLP · $ · 1 country
A decree law brought the peso back to Chile on 29 September 1975, at one new peso for 1,000 escudos, reviving the name of the currency used from 1817 to 1960. The Central Bank of Chile, founded in 1925, is the only body allowed to issue it. Inflation made the centavo worthless, and the law abolished it from 1 January 1984.
The sign
Decree Law 1,123 of 1975 set the symbol: a letter S crossed by one or two vertical strokes, placed before the figure. The single stroke, $, is the form in almost every text today. Because the United States dollar and many other currencies use the same sign, Chilean amounts are written CLP$ where confusion is possible.
The same sign stands for 28 other currencies, among them the US dollar and the East Caribbean dollar.
- ISO code
- CLP
- ISO number
- 152
- Fraction
- None, amounts are whole units
An amount, written out
$1,234
- $1,234English
- $1.234SpanishChile
The sign in code
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, UTF-8
- HTML
$$$- CSS
content: "\0024";- JavaScript
"\u0024"- UTF-8
0x24- UTF-16
0x0024- UTF-32
0x00000024
Where the Chilean peso is the official currency
Chile uses it on its own. The Central Bank of Chile issues every note and coin but tenders out the making, to the Casa de Moneda and to foreign firms.
About the Chilean peso
Who issues the peso and who makes it
The Central Bank of Chile is the only institution in Chile empowered to issue legal tender, notes and coins alike, which is why Chileans also call it the Instituto Emisor. It does not print or strike the money itself. The bank holds tenders, open to the state mint, the Casa de Moneda de Chile, and to foreign firms that meet its technical and security requirements. The bank says recent contracts have gone to companies in Chile and in other countries of Europe, the Americas and Oceania.
The mint traces its origin to a royal charter of 1 October 1743 that authorised minting in Santiago. The bank's notes and coins do not expire, whatever their age.
Why the escudo gave way to a new peso
Prices rose by an estimated 600 to 800% a year between 1970 and 1973. After the coup of 1973 the military government reformed the economy, and Decree Law 1,123 of 30 July 1975 replaced the monetary unit. Its preamble gives two reasons: to make commercial operations easier and to cut the running cost of the monetary system.
From 29 September 1975 one peso equalled 1,000 escudos and one centavo equalled ten. The decree told accountants what to do with the leftovers. Sums under five escudos were dropped, and sums of five to nine escudos were raised to a centavo. The decree kept escudo notes and coins as legal tender at the new ratio.
How the peso came to float
The peso moved within a crawling band from 1974 to 1979. In June 1979 it was fixed to the US dollar at 39 pesos, a peg that inflation broke: the peso was devalued in June 1982 during that year's economic crisis and then floated. Crawling bands returned in August 1984. The Central Bank dropped the band in September 1999 and let the peso float freely against the dollar, while keeping the right to intervene, which it has used several times since.
Where the centavo and the small coins went
Coins of 1, 5, 10 and 50 centavos and 1 peso arrived in 1975. Inflation made the centavo coins obsolete, and a law ended the subdivision from 1 January 1984, so accounts have been kept in whole pesos since. The peso coins went the same way more slowly. Congress passed a law in August 2016, the mint stopped striking 1 and 5 peso coins on 26 October 2017, and from 1 November that year shops rounded cash totals to the nearest ten: amounts ending in 1 to 5 down, 6 to 9 up. Card payments and cheques are still exact. In August 2026 the bank announced steel core 10 and 50 peso coins, plated by electroplating, to cut production costs.
What the Bicentennial notes show
The bank began discussing a redesign in 2006, announced it in December 2008 and finished in 2011. Its own account says no inflation forced this change, unlike the switch from the escudo. The 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 peso notes are polymer; the 10,000 and 20,000 peso notes are cotton paper. Every note keeps the historical figure of the family before it and adds the copihue flower and the Antü, a Mapuche symbol of the sun. The backs show national parks and native animals. All the notes stand 70 mm high and grow 7 mm longer with each step in value.
Common questions
Questions about the Chilean peso
Why does the Chilean peso use a dollar sign?
The decree law that created the current peso in 1975 defined its symbol as a letter S crossed by one or two vertical lines, written before the number. That is the same sign the United States dollar and many pesos use. Where the context leaves any doubt, Chilean writers add the code and print CLP$ or US$.
Does Chile still have centavos?
No. The 1975 decree divided the peso into 100 centavos, each worth ten old escudos, and coins of 1, 5, 10 and 50 centavos were struck that year. Inflation left them worthless, and a law abolished the subdivision from 1 January 1984. Since then accounts have been kept in whole pesos, and the ISO list gives the peso no minor unit. Even the 1 and 5 peso coins stopped being struck in 2017, and cash totals are now rounded to the nearest 10 pesos.
What do Chileans mean by a luca or a gamba?
Luca is slang for 1,000 pesos and gamba for 100. Gamba, the word for a prawn, comes from a reddish 100 peso note of the years before 1960, and both names were already used for 1,000 and 100 escudos before 1975. Quina means 500 pesos. Depending on context a gamba can also mean 100,000 pesos. Speakers of coa, the old cant of the Chilean underworld, divide by a thousand and call the 1,000 peso note one peso.
Are Chilean banknotes made of plastic?
Some are. The Central Bank of Chile prints the 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 peso notes on polymer and the 10,000 and 20,000 peso notes on cotton paper. It says both materials last longer than ordinary cellulose paper, carry security features more easily and can be recognised by touch.
When did the Chilean peso start to float?
In September 1999, when the Central Bank of Chile abandoned the crawling band it had defended since August 1984 and let the peso float freely against the US dollar. The bank kept the right to intervene and has done so at moments of stress, including 2001, 2002, 2008, 2019 and 2022. Before the bands there had been a fixed peg of 39 pesos to the dollar from June 1979, which ended with the devaluation of June 1982.