The Peruvian sol
Currency · PEN · 1 country
Peru's Central Reserve Bank has the exclusive authority to issue the sol, which took over from the inti on 1 July 1991 at one sol to a million intis. Its legal name was nuevo sol until a 2015 law shortened it. Sol comes from the Latin solidus and also means sun in Spanish, which links it to the inti, named for the Inca sun god.
No sign of its own
Amounts are written S/ before the figure, as in S/ 5, the form the Central Reserve Bank itself uses. The character set holds no single sign for it, so the letter and the slash are typed as two characters. The ISO code is PEN.
- ISO code
- PEN
- ISO number
- 604
- Subunit
- céntimo, 1/100
An amount, written out
PEN 1,234.50
- PEN 1,234.50English
Where the Peruvian sol is the official currency
Peru uses the sol by itself. The inti and the sol de oro before it have been withdrawn, and neither is legal tender.
About the Peruvian sol
Who holds the right to issue soles
The Banco Central de Reserva del Perú, the Central Reserve Bank, has the exclusive authority to issue notes and coins in Peru. Law 25295 made the nuevo sol the country's monetary unit in January 1991, and its implementing regulation took effect on 1 July 1991. The inti and the sol de oro before it have been withdrawn. Neither is legal tender.
Why Peru replaced the inti
The inti had been introduced in 1985 at 1,000 soles de oro. Hyperinflation in the late 1980s pushed the government to abandon it. The new unit replaced it at one sol to 1,000,000 intis, and every inti coin and note below 10,000 intis was demonetised at once. Coins in the new money arrived on 1 October 1991 and the first notes on 13 November 1991.
What the name sol goes back to
Peru had a sol before, from 1863 to 1985, worth ten reales when it began. Before that came the Peruvian real, and before that the Spanish colonial real. The 1991 currency took the name nuevo sol, the new sol. On 13 November 2015 Congress voted to drop the nuevo, and Law 30381 made sol the name from 15 December 2015.
Which coins carry the Nazca lines
The coins run from 10 céntimos to 5 soles. Every one shows the national coat of arms, the name of the Central Reserve Bank and the year of minting on the obverse. The designs split by metal. The brass coins show the pre-Columbian citadel of Chan Chan near Trujillo, and the silver-coloured coins, struck in an alloy Peru calls alpaca, show a curved stem of laurel and oak leaves with the logo of the National Mint. The bimetallic 2 and 5-sol coins, added in 1994, reproduce Nazca geoglyphs from the south of the country: the hummingbird on the 2 soles, and on the 5 soles the frigate bird, as the central bank names it.
The 1-céntimo coin left circulation on 1 May 2011 and the 5-céntimo coin on 1 January 2019. In cash, retailers now round totals down to the nearest ten céntimos or up to the nearest five, while card payments are charged to the exact amount.
How the banknotes have been redrawn
Notes of 10, 20, 50 and 100 soles came in with the currency, and a 200 followed in the 1990s. The first series printed the names of their printers on the back. A redesign from the late 2000s kept the portraits, added buildings to the reverses and dropped the printers' names, and the name on the notes changed from nuevos soles to soles during its run. A wholly new series with different portraits began in July 2021 with the 10 and 100 soles, added the 20 and 50 in July 2022 and ended with the 200 in December 2023.
Common questions
Questions about the Peruvian sol
Is it the sol or the nuevo sol?
The sol. From 1991 the legal name was nuevo sol, new sol, a return to the name of the sol de oro that Peru used from 1863 to 1985. Congress voted on 13 November 2015 to drop the word nuevo, and Law 30381 made the change from 15 December 2015. Notes of the series then in circulation switched from nuevos soles to soles partway through their run.
How many intis was one sol worth?
One million. When the sol replaced the inti on 1 July 1991, the rate was one sol to 1,000,000 intis, and every inti coin and note below 10,000 intis lost its legal tender status at once. The inti itself had lasted only from 1985, when it had replaced the sol de oro at a thousand to one.
What do Peruvian coins show?
The obverse of every coin carries the coat of arms, the name Banco Central de Reserva del Perú and the year. The reverse depends on the metal. Brass coins show the citadel of Chan Chan and alpaca coins a stem of laurel and oak. The bimetallic 2 and 5 soles reproduce Nazca geoglyphs, a hummingbird and a frigate bird.
Why do Peruvian shops round cash prices?
The 1 and 5-céntimo coins are gone, withdrawn on 1 May 2011 and 1 January 2019. Cash totals are rounded down to the nearest ten céntimos or up to the nearest five. Card and other electronic payments still go through at the exact amount.