The Paraguayan guaraní
Currency · PYG · ₲ · 1 country
Paraguay's Decree-Law No. 655 of 5 October 1943 created the guaraní and set it at 100 of the pesos fuertes it replaced. The Banco Central del Paraguay issues it. Notes run up to ₲100,000 and coins start at ₲50, because the céntimo dropped out of circulation in 1966, and a 2011 plan to cut three zeros was suspended.
The sign
The sign ₲ is the one the decree of 1943 prescribed: a G crossed by a stroke from right to left. Unicode encodes it as U+20B2, GUARANI SIGN. Where a font lacks it, amounts are written with Gs. instead.
- ISO code
- PYG
- ISO number
- 600
- Fraction
- None, amounts are whole units
An amount, written out
₲1,234
- ₲1,234English
The sign in code
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, UTF-8
- HTML
₲₲- CSS
content: "\20B2";- JavaScript
"\u20B2"- UTF-8
0xE2 0x82 0xB2- UTF-16
0x20B2- UTF-32
0x000020B2
Where the Paraguayan guarani is the official currency
Paraguay is the member, where coins of ₲500 and below struck before 2005 stopped being legal tender on 8 January 2014.
About the Paraguayan guarani
What replaced the peso fuerte
The decree of 5 October 1943 set up what it called the Régimen Monetario Orgánico de la República del Paraguay. It named the unit the guaraní, divided it into 100 equal parts, and exchanged it for the peso fuerte at one guaraní to 100 pesos. The Banco Central del Paraguay presents the date as the birth of a national emblem and of the country's economic and monetary independence, and marked the currency's eightieth year in 2023. Notes followed in 1944.
How the notes changed size and material
The first family, presented on 8 September 1944, had seven notes from ₲1 to ₲1,000 in seven different sizes, so that a note's size showed its value. The family presented on 15 August 1963 put every note on one format, 15.5 by 6.7 centimetres, and added ₲5,000 and ₲10,000. On 15 August 1979 the ₲5,000 note carried its value written in Guaraní, the language, on the back.
The ₲50,000 arrived in 1990. The ₲100,000 followed on 29 June 1998. The ₲2,000 and ₲5,000 wore out quickly because they changed hands so often, and the central bank moved them to polymer, the ₲2,000 in 2009 and the ₲5,000 in 2011. Giesecke and Devrient and De La Rue print them.
On 5 October 2022 the central bank's board approved a new family of notes, whose designs are to show Paraguay's heritage, fauna and flora and carry new security features while every denomination stays as it is.
When the céntimo ended
The first coins, in 1944, were céntimos of aluminium bronze with flowers on them: the guava, the passion flower, the orange blossom, the lapacho. Céntimo coins lost legal tender status in 1966, and Paraguay then went without any circulating coins until 1975. In December 1976 the ₲1, ₲5 and ₲10 notes, worn out by constant use, were replaced by coins. Then came ₲100 in 1990, ₲500 in 1997 and ₲1,000, minted in 2006. From 1990 the coins were struck in nickel-brass or brass-plated steel instead of stainless steel. Coins of ₲500 and below struck before 2005 stopped being legal tender on 8 January 2014.
Why the zeros are still there
In 2011 plans were published for a nuevo guaraní, one new unit for every 1,000 old ones, with two years of dual circulation before new notes reused the old name. The project was suspended over the risk of confusion and practical problems. The note redesign of 2022 went ahead on the explicit condition of removing no zeros.
Common questions
Questions about the Paraguayan guarani
What does the crossed G in ₲ stand for?
It stands for guaraní. Decree-Law No. 655 of 5 October 1943, which created the currency, gave its symbol as a G crossed from right to left, and the central bank still describes it that way. Where the character is not available, Paraguayans write Gs. before the amount.
Does the guaraní have cents?
Only in law. The guaraní is divided into 100 céntimos, and céntimo coins were struck from 1944, but they stopped being legal tender in 1966. For nine years after that Paraguay had no coins in circulation at all, until guaraní coins arrived in 1975. The ISO 4217 list gives the currency no minor unit, and the coins in use start at ₲50.
Did Paraguay ever take zeros off the guaraní?
No. A plan published in 2011 would have created a nuevo guaraní worth 1,000 old ones, with the sign N₲ during a two year transition and then new notes carrying the old name again. It was suspended because of possible confusion and problems with the project. When the Banco Central del Paraguay approved a new family of notes on 5 October 2022, it stated that the change would neither alter the denominations nor remove any zeros.
Which guaraní notes are made of plastic?
The ₲2,000 and the ₲5,000. The central bank moved them to polymer, in 2009 and 2011, because they changed hands so often that their useful life was short. Polymer lasts longer than the cotton fibre paper the other guaraní notes are printed on.