Latin America Collection

Nicaragua's currency is the gold córdoba, named after Spanish
explorer Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, who founded
Granada in 1524.


The córdoba is divided into 100 centavos. It is a stable currency
that is set on a crawling peg depreciation of 6% a year against the
U.S. Dollar. As of October '05, the official exchange rate was
16.97 cordobas to 1 dollar. Current exchange rates are printed
every day in the Nicaraguan newspapers, and can be checked on
the Central Bank's webpage http://www.bcn.gob.ni
newspaper's webpages: http://www.laprensa.com.ni,
http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni.
Bills come in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500
­córdobas. Often in Nicaragua the money is referred to as pesos,
reales
, or plata, although people are talking about córdobas.
If you are unfamiliar with the currency, be careful when changing
money from guys trying to sell you córdobas at the border.
Nicaragua's old 1980s currency, also called the córdoba and very
similar in appearance, was taken out of circulation in 1988.
Don't ever accept bills that were printed before 1991, when
Nicaragua switched over the gold córdoba in circulation today.
U.S. dollars are also widely accepted in Nicaragua. You can
purchase just about anything using dollars, although you may
not get the best exchange rate on your change.
Foreign credit and debit cards can also be used widely in
Nicaragua in major cities and tourism locations. Most ATM
machines will accept your home-account bankcard, and some
will give you the option of withdrawing dollars or cordobas.