The Uruguayan peso
Currency · UYU · $ · 1 country
Since its creation in 1967 the Banco Central del Uruguay has held the exclusive right to issue notes and strike coins across the country. The present peso uruguayo took over on 1 March 1993, at one peso for 1,000 nuevos pesos. It was the second time in eighteen years that Uruguay had divided its money by a thousand.
The sign
The peso is written with $, the sign set by law for the peso uruguayo from 1 March 1993. Its predecessor, the nuevo peso of 1975, was written N$, and before that the old peso also used $. Where the dollar sign could mean the US dollar, the code UYU tells them apart.
The same sign stands for 28 other currencies, among them the US dollar and the East Caribbean dollar.
- ISO code
- UYU
- ISO number
- 858
- Subunit
- centésimo, 1/100
An amount, written out
$1,234.50
- $1,234.50English
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 Uruguayan peso is the official currency
Uruguay uses it, though real estate, cars and even executive salaries are mostly quoted in US dollars. Two accounting units, the UYI and the UYW, sit beside it.
About the Uruguayan peso
Who issues the peso and where it is made
The Banco Central del Uruguay began operating on 1 March 1967 and took over the note issue from the Banco de la República. It manages the money in circulation across Uruguay, encourages people to handle notes with care and decides when an issue is withdrawn. It does not print or mint at home. Each issue goes out to international tender, so the origin varies. Its notes have come from De La Rue, Oberthur, Giesecke & Devrient and the Casa de Moneda de Chile.
Damaged notes that meet the rules can be exchanged at any bank or at the central bank. A serial number that begins with an asterisk, or with a Z, marks a replacement note the printer substituted for a faulty one. Such notes are valid.
Why Uruguay kept dropping zeros from its peso
Uruguay had a stable currency on the gold standard from 1896 until the First World War. Inflation followed the Second World War and became serious after 1964. Law 14,316 of 16 December 1974 created the nuevo peso, written N$, from 1 July 1975: one nuevo peso for 1,000 old pesos.
It happened again. Law 16,226 of 29 October 1991, a decree of 22 December 1992 and a central bank circular of January 1993 set the peso uruguayo, written $, in place from 1 March 1993, again at 1,000 to one. The central bank notes that those dates are legal ones and did not always match the arrival of the new notes and coins. The first note in pesos uruguayos, a 20 peso note dated 1994, did not circulate until 22 February 1995. Nuevo peso notes from 1,000 to 500,000 stayed legal tender, worth 1 to 500 pesos uruguayos, until 28 February 2003.
How the exchange rate has been managed
Under military rule the peso moved on a crawling peg against the dollar, and the government published a daily table of the dollar's future value, the tablita. In 1982 the currency was abruptly devalued, known as the breaking of the tablita, and many companies and households went bankrupt. The 1990s brought a sliding band with upper and lower margins where the government would intervene. After a banking crisis in 2002 the peso was allowed to float.
Years of devaluation left their mark on prices. Real estate, cars and even executive salaries are mostly quoted in US dollars. Uruguayans call a spell of real appreciation atraso cambiario, the exchange rate running late, on the assumption that a devaluation will follow.
Which notes and coins circulate
Steel coins of 10, 20 and 50 centésimos and brass coins of 1 and 2 pesos came in 1994. Coins of 5 and 10 pesos replaced the notes of the same value in 2003 and 2004. A new set of 1, 2, 5 and 10 peso coins followed in January 2011, with the national arms on one side and, under Law 18,331, native animals on the other: the mulita on the 1 peso, the carpincho on the 2 and the ñandú on the 5. The Spanish mint struck the first 1 and 2 peso coins and the Royal Mint the 5 and 10; the 2024 strikes of the lower values, on plated steel cores, came from Kremnica. The centésimo still divides the peso on paper, but no centésimo is in use.
The notes run up to 2,000 pesos, a value added in 2003. A series of 2014 and 2015 dropped the vertical word URUGUAY from the left side. On newer issues the watermark repeats the portrait of the person the note honours, so a new note without Artigas in the watermark is not a forgery. For its fiftieth anniversary the central bank issued a commemorative 50 peso note dated 2017, ten million of them, on polymer. Regular polymer 20 and 50 peso notes followed in 2020 and 2021.
Two accounting units sit beside the peso. The Unidad Indexada, code UYI, tracks consumer prices and was worth exactly one peso when it started on 1 June 2002. The Unidad Previsional, code UYW, is another unit of account.
Common questions
Questions about the Uruguayan peso
What does N$ mean on old Uruguayan prices?
Nuevos pesos. The nuevo peso was Uruguay's currency from 1 July 1975 to 1 March 1993, written N$ and worth 1,000 of the old pesos. The peso uruguayo then replaced it at 1,000 to one, and the sign went back to a plain $. Nuevo peso notes of 1,000 and above stayed legal tender until 28 February 2003.
Why are houses and cars in Uruguay priced in dollars?
Because Uruguayans grew used to their currency losing value. Inflation became serious after 1964, the peso was cut by a thousand in 1975 and again in 1993, the tablita broke in 1982 and the currency was floated after the banking crisis of 2002. The devaluations of 1982 and 2002 both bankrupted many companies and individuals, in 2002 those with debts in dollars. Big purchases such as real estate and cars, and even some executive salaries, are therefore mostly quoted in US dollars. The government has hoped that a floating peso would reduce that dollarisation.
Is a Uruguayan banknote with a star in its serial number fake?
No. The Banco Central del Uruguay explains that when the printer finds a faulty note during production it must replace it, and the replacement carries an asterisk or star before the serial number. Some issues use a Z instead, starting at 90 million or at 1. Both kinds are valid.
What is the Unidad Indexada in Uruguay?
An accounting unit, with the ISO code UYI, that follows consumer prices. It was introduced on 1 June 2002 at a value of exactly one peso uruguayo and has followed prices since. It is not issued as notes or coins. Uruguay keeps a second unit of account, the Unidad Previsional, code UYW.