Brazilian Real Currency

Introduction

Brazilian Real is a significant currency in the South American continent. This currency was initially used by the Portuguese explorers and also by the Dutch in mid 17th century. At present, the official currency of Brazil is real and is known as Brazilian real. It is denoted as ‘R$’ having the currency code as BRL and the numeric code 986 with ISO 4217 regulation.

The currency has 100 subunits known as ‘centavo’ or plural term is ‘centavos’.

Overview

The Brazilian currency has strengthened the financial position and the economy. Brazil has abundant oil supply making it the second largest in the South American continent in oil reserves. Yet, it is not self sufficient and imports from other countries to have strong currency, but is supported well by the Brazilian real. The inflation in 1942 led to the replacement of real and since than the inflation rate is maintained at normal levels to keep the currency stable and strong.

However, the citizens are not authorized to have bank accounts in foreign currency, but the major cities have their own currency exchanges.

Configuration

The Brazilian real is accounted as 100 centavos = 1 real. However, the central bank of Brazil is the reserve bank and controls the currency production and distribution. The central bank gets the coins and real notes printed from the official mint, Casa da Moeda do Brasil. The denominations of the banknotes are 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 reais.

The front side depict effigy of the republic and the reverse side has different images of birds and animals on all the notes. R$1 has hummingbird, R$2 has hawksbill turtle, great egret is on R$5, green wing macaw on R$10, golden lion on R$20, Jaguar on R$50 and a dusky grouper on R$100. The dimension is similar on all the notes and can be differentiated based on its color.

R$1 is green, Blue and gray is R$2, Violet is R$5, Crimson is R$10, Yellow and orange is R$20 and Blue is R$100. R$1 production has been stopped and R$10 has come in a polymer version.

Value

In 1994 and 1995 real gained value in comparison to the U.S. dollar about US$1.20.

The central bank controlled the exchange rate in 1996 and 1998 and the value of real depreciated. In 1999, Real suffered complete devaluation such that it was R$2: US$1.

Later on the value of real in dollars kept on fluctuating, but showed upwards sign such that in 2005 it was over R$2 :US$1. Now in 2010, June 22, the Brazilian real is 0.5612 US dollars and 1 U.S. dollar is 1.7820 Brazilian Real.