The Cape Verdean escudo
Currency · CVE · 1 country
The Banco de Cabo Verde, set up after independence in 1975, put its own escudo notes and coins into circulation in 1977. The escudo itself had arrived in 1914 under Portuguese rule. An exchange agreement signed with Portugal in 1998 has held it at a fixed parity ever since, first with the Portuguese escudo and then with the euro.
No sign of its own
Cape Verdeans write amounts with the cifrão, a dollar sign with two vertical strokes, set where the decimal separator would go: 20$00 is twenty escudos and 1.000$00 is a thousand. Few fonts carry the cifrão, so the plain dollar sign often stands in, even in official use. The ISO code is CVE.
- ISO code
- CVE
- ISO number
- 132
- Subunit
- centavo, 1/100
An amount, written out
CVE 1,234.50
- CVE 1,234.50English
- 1234$50 PortugueseCape Verde
In English the code comes before the amount. Where the Cape Verdean escudo is used, it comes after the amount in Cape Verde.
Where the Cape Verdean escudo is the official currency
Cape Verde uses the escudo on its own, tied to the euro through the exchange agreement it signed with Portugal in Praia in 1998.
About the Cape Verdean escudo
How Cape Verde came to count in escudos
The escudo replaced the Cape Verdean real in 1914, at 1,000 réis to the escudo. Coins came from Portugal until 1930. Their paper money came from the Banco Nacional Ultramarino, which had printed notes for Cape Verde alone since 1865 and was the only bank there until 1975. In 1914 it issued notes as small as 4 centavos, and in 1921 notes from 1 to 100 escudos. Coins of Cape Verde's own followed in 1930, in denominations from 5 centavos to 1 escudo.
Until independence the Cape Verdean escudo stood at par with the Portuguese escudo.
Who took over the escudo at independence
After independence on 5 July 1975 the state created the Banco de Cabo Verde and gave it sole control of the monetary system. Its first notes, of 100, 500 and 1,000 escudos, came out on 1 July 1977. Coins followed that year, from 20 centavos to 50 escudos. A stallholder in the municipal market of Praia told the Portuguese news agency Lusa in 2025 that the first paper escudos carried the portrait of Amílcar Cabral.
The new currency lost about 30% of its value in 1977 and 1978 and a further 40% from 1982 to 1984, then held fairly steady against the Portuguese escudo. The economist António Batista told Lusa that inflation in Cape Verde never grew large enough to force a change of name or of coinage, which is why the escudo kept its name when other countries went through several.
Why the escudo is fixed to the euro
Portugal's finance minister and Cape Verde's minister for economic coordination signed an exchange cooperation agreement in Praia on 13 March 1998. Its first article ties Cape Verde's currency to Portugal's national currency by a fixed parity. Portugal guarantees the escudo's convertibility and lends Cape Verde a credit facility to add to its foreign reserves. In return Cape Verde adopted the economic reference criteria of the European Union's member states and undertook to run policy that protects the parity.
A joint commission, with the Banco de Portugal and the Banco de Cabo Verde among its members, oversees the agreement and can suspend access to the credit line if its terms are broken. The agreement runs in four-year periods that renew on their own. Either side may end it. Notice must be given in writing six months ahead.
The parity was set at 0.55 Cape Verdean escudos to the Portuguese escudo in 1998. When the euro took the Portuguese escudo's place, the peg moved with it, to 110.265 escudos per euro.
What Cape Verdean coins and notes look like
The present coins date from 1994: 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 escudos, and a ten-sided bimetallic 100. The 1-escudo coin shows a sea turtle and circulates poorly, since vendors tend to round prices to the nearest five. The centavo coins of 1977 dropped out of use as inflation persisted.
The Banco de Cabo Verde brought in a series of notes on 22 December 2014 honouring Cape Verdean figures from literature, music and politics. The 200, 1,000 and 2,000 escudo notes came first, the 200 on polymer. The 500 and 5,000 came in 2015.
In the Praia market sellers still count in contos, a thousand escudos each, as Portugal did before the euro.
Common questions
Questions about the Cape Verdean escudo
Is the Cape Verdean escudo pegged to the euro?
Yes, at 110.265 escudos to one euro. The peg comes from an exchange cooperation agreement that Portugal and Cape Verde signed in Praia on 13 March 1998, which tied the escudo to Portugal's national currency at 0.55 Cape Verdean escudos per Portuguese escudo. When the euro replaced the Portuguese escudo, the peg carried over. Portugal guarantees the escudo's convertibility and backs it with a credit facility for Cape Verde's reserves.
What is a conto in Cape Verde?
A thousand escudos. Market sellers in Praia still switch from escudos to contos once a sum reaches a thousand, a habit Portugal kept with its own escudo until the euro arrived. A price written 5.000$00 is five contos, and 2.500$00 is two and a half.
Why do Cape Verdean prices put a dollar sign in the middle?
The mark is a cifrão, a dollar sign with two vertical strokes, and it sits where other currencies put a decimal point. So 20$00 reads twenty escudos and no centavos, and 1.000$00 a thousand. Because many fonts lack the cifrão, printers and even official documents often use the ordinary dollar sign in its place.
When did Cape Verde get its own banknotes?
The Banco Nacional Ultramarino, a Portuguese bank, printed notes for Cape Verde alone from 1865 and issued escudo notes from 1914. After independence on 5 July 1975 the new Banco de Cabo Verde took sole charge of the money and issued its first notes, of 100, 500 and 1,000 escudos, on 1 July 1977. Its latest series began on 22 December 2014 and honours Cape Verdean writers, musicians and political figures, with the 200-escudo note printed on polymer.