Last updated: September 2026

What currency does Nicaragua use?

The córdoba, divided into 100 centavos and issued by the Banco Central de Nicaragua. Seven denominations circulate: 1,000, 500, 200, 100, 50, 20 and 10 córdobas. Five of them are printed on polymer and two on cotton paper.

The bank's authority to issue is written into its organic law. Article 5 of Ley N° 732 makes the BCN exclusively responsible for issuing currency in the country and for putting notes and coins into circulation and withdrawing them, article 19 gives its board the power to approve the design, specifications, denominations and quantities to be printed, and article 40 governs how printing contracts are placed (Banco Central de Nicaragua, general information on banknotes and coins, via the Internet Archive).

Two of those seven denominations are recent additions at the top of the ladder, and five of them are the working notes that Nicaraguans handle every day. The rest of this page follows the unit backwards, from the polymer family to the peso notes that preceded the córdoba altogether.

When was the córdoba introduced, and why is it called that?

The córdoba was adopted in 1912, and the first banknotes followed in March 1913. The Banco Nacional de Nicaragua was founded in 1912 with exclusive rights to issue notes and coins, and the government then promulgated the Ley de conversión monetaria de 1912.

The bank's own account is precise about the decree. That law, "mediante decreto aprobado por la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente el 20 de marzo de ese año, adopta como unidad de medida el Córdoba, llamado así en memoria de Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, fundador de las ciudades de León y Granada" (Banco Central de Nicaragua, historical review of the national currency, via the Internet Archive). The unit is named after the founder of León and Granada, which is why both cities later turned up on the notes themselves.

Circulation began the following spring. In March 1913 the first banknotes appeared in denominations of 100, 50, 20, 10, 5 and 1 córdobas, with coins of 50, 25, 10, 5 and 1 centavos. The Banco Nacional de Nicaragua kept the note-issuing role for nearly half a century. In 1960 the Banco Central de Nicaragua was founded, and the notes and coins that the Banco Nacional had issued until then began to be issued by the central bank instead.

What money did Nicaragua use before the córdoba?

Pesos, and before that a mixture of foreign coin. The central bank records that before independence cacao, Spanish coins and coins struck in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Guatemala were all used as means of payment, and that after independence circulation was limited to coins of the Central American Republic and foreign coins, with equivalences fixed by law on the basis of the peso as a unit of account.

Paper came in 1879. The first Nicaraguan banknotes were the Billetes del Tesoro, using the peso as the monetary unit, and from 1888 notes issued by private banks circulated alongside them, including those of the Banco de Nicaragua and the Banco Agrícola Mercantil. There is also a pre-paper curiosity in the bank's account: by the end of the nineteenth century, private tokens called contraseñas or fichas, struck by some landowners to pay their workers, circulated on the estates that issued them.

Those private bank notes are the aristocrats of Nicaraguan collecting today. The catalogue lists a Banco Agrícola-Mercantil 100 pesos of the 1888 issue, printed by the American Bank Note Company, with a cow's head at left centre and a seated Mercury with a ship behind him at right, and a Banco de Nicaragua 5 pesos of the 1889 and 1890 issue, printed by Waterlow and Sons, with a standing Liberty and a portrait of E. Carazo (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, Banco Agricola-Mercantil 100 pesos). Our page on the American Bank Note Company explains why a Central American bank would order its paper from New York.

What happened to the córdoba between 1988 and 1991?

The currency was replaced twice in under three years. The Banco Central de Nicaragua dates the start of the trouble to 1979 and describes a period of high inflation that cost the currency its value, and it gives the exact date of the first reform: 14 February 1988.

The bank calls that reform an "operación de canje y conversión monetaria", in which the córdoba was replaced by the córdoba nuevo at one thousand córdobas to one. High inflation continued between 1988 and 1990, and the outcome was Decreto 23-90, "Conversión a la unidad Córdoba Oro", issued on 26 June 1990, under which the córdoba nuevo was replaced in turn by the córdoba oro (Banco Central de Nicaragua, historical review of the national currency, via the Internet Archive).

The córdoba oro is the unit still in use. Its arrival closed an inflationary chapter that, measured by the Hanke-Krus World Hyperinflation Table published by the Cato Institute, is the longest continuous episode in that table. For the same pattern elsewhere in the region, see our Costa Rica and El Salvador hubs and our list of currency redenominations.

Why are most Nicaraguan banknotes printed on polymer?

Because the central bank decided that the notes people handle most should last longer. Polymer arrived with the 2009 family, and by 2019 every denomination in the country existed on the material. The bank says the 2009 issue "incluyó la emisión de billetes impresos en sustrato de polímero, nueva tecnología que ofrece al público billetes más seguros y duraderos".

The decisive family came six years later. New banknotes were approved by resolution CD-BCN-XV-1-14 of 26 March 2014 and began circulating on 26 October 2015, with the stated aims of supplying demand for the 2015 to 2017 period, replacing worn notes and improving security features. Every note is 67 mm tall and each denomination is 5 mm longer than the one below it, from 131 mm for the 10 córdobas to 156 mm for the 500, so the series can be sorted by length alone (Banco Central de Nicaragua, launch presentation for the 2015 banknotes, via the Internet Archive).

The designs are a tour of the country rather than a gallery of people. The 500 córdobas, on cotton paper and red, carries the cathedral of León with the Momotombo volcano on the reverse. The 200, brown, carries the Rubén Darío National Theatre with the dance comedy El Güegüense. The 100, blue, carries Granada cathedral with a horse-drawn carriage. The 50, purple, carries the crafts market at Masaya with folk ballet. The 20, orange, carries the Moravian church at Pearl Lagoon with the Mayo Ya festival. The 10, light green, carries Puerto Salvador Allende in Managua with the Vaquita dance from the city's patron-saint festivities.

The series won an international prize. On 21 June 2016, at a conference in Mexico City, Reconnaissance International awarded the Banco Central de Nicaragua the Regional Banknote of the Year Award for 2016 for the family that had begun circulating on 26 October 2015, ahead of eight other notes from the region. The jury noted that the polymer notes are printed on Innovia's Guardian substrate, that the 50 and 100 córdobas used it for the first time, that the 200 córdobas is the first circulating banknote with Latitude technology, a diffractive optically variable device built into the substrate in the shape of the guardabarranco, Nicaragua's national bird, and that the paper 500 córdobas is one of the first notes to include SPARK Live (Banco Central de Nicaragua press release, via the Internet Archive).

The last step came in 2019. From 8 July 2019 the 500 and 1,000 córdoba notes began circulating on polymer, which the bank says completed its entire banknote family in that material, a programme it dates from 2009 (Banco Central de Nicaragua, current banknotes, via the Internet Archive). Our comparison of polymer and paper banknotes explains what changes when a country makes that switch.

Nicaraguan banknote series at a glance

Periods, units, denominations and designs below come from the Banco Central de Nicaragua's own pages and from the catalogue where noted. Material is given only where a source states it.

Which old Nicaraguan notes are still valid?

More than you would expect, including notes for fractions of a córdoba. The central bank keeps a published list of banknotes it describes as scarce in circulation but still holding their purchasing power, and it is an unusually long list for a country that has redenominated twice.

It covers notes of 500, 100, 50, 20, 10, 5 and 1 córdoba, and fractional notes of 50, 25, 10, 5 and 1 centavo de córdoba. The bank adds a note of its own: these denominations are scarce in circulation but keep their purchasing power and are in the process of being replaced (Banco Central de Nicaragua, banknotes of low circulation, via the Internet Archive).

Those centavo notes are the tell. A country that has just rebuilt its currency starts again from the smallest values, so a 1 centavo note is physical evidence of a monetary reset rather than an oddity. The same reading applies to the fractional issues on our page about fractional currency.

What are old Nicaraguan banknotes worth?

The nineteenth-century private bank notes are in a different league from everything since. Catalogue values below are in US dollars from the PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, read in September 2026, at Uncirculated 60. Catalogue values are a reference point, not a quote.

Read the modern rows carefully, because they contain the practical lesson. A 10 córdoba note of the current family is a couple of dollars in the catalogue, the same note with an R prefix is four times that, and the specimen is a hundred times that (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, Nicaragua 10 córdobas; 20 córdobas; 1,000 córdobas commemorative). Our pages on star notes and replacement notes, specimen notes and what determines banknote value cover why, and Pick numbers explains the catalogue references.

How do you start collecting Nicaraguan banknotes?

Start with the current family. Seven denominations, one design brief, one launch date and five polymer notes make it a clean modern set that can be completed in uncirculated grade, and the material itself is part of the appeal.

Then pick a second lane. The reform-era notes of 1988 to 1991 are the historical lane, and the overprints are the pieces that carry the story visually. The nineteenth-century peso issues are the connoisseur's lane, mostly reaching collectors as specimens and remainders rather than circulated notes, and priced accordingly. Between the two sits the 2016 Rubén Darío commemorative, a portrait note in a family otherwise built on buildings and landscapes.

Learn the grading ladder before you spend. Grades run from Uncirculated down through AU, XF, VF, F, VG and G, and the certified market uses a 1 to 70 scale: see our banknote grading guide and graded versus raw banknotes. Polymer needs different care from paper, because it creases permanently rather than folding softly, so read how to store banknotes before you sleeve anything. For neighbouring collecting fields, see our Cuba banknotes hub.

Where can you buy Nicaraguan banknotes?

Buy from an established dealer that authenticates every note, documents where it came from, and stands behind it in writing. Prices far below every other seller, vague sourcing and no returns are the signals to walk away from.

Planet Banknote sources notes direct from mints, central banks and authorized distributors rather than reselling anonymous lots. Browse the current selection through the banknotes by country directory, where availability changes with what has been sourced. Our guide to buying world banknotes safely and how to collect world banknotes cover the rest.

Planet Banknote is a family-owned dealership in Sarasota, Florida, founded in 2021. Every note is sourced direct from mints, central banks, and authorized distributors, inspected through our Planet Banknote Verified process, and ships with a free Certificate of Authenticity. US orders ship free via USPS Priority, and every order includes a free bonus gift.