Costa Rican colón

The colón (named after Christopher Columbus, known as Cristóbal Colón in Spanish) is the currency of Costa Rica. It is also the name of El Salvador's currency (see El Salvador colón). The plural is colones in Spanish, but English-speakers often say colons instead. Its ISO 4217 code is CRC.

The colón is divided into 100 céntimos. Coins in circulation are 10, 25 and 50 céntimos (rarely used anymore due to inflation), and 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, and 100 colones. The 20-colón coin is being phased out. In 1997, the government issued new 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 colón coins to replace the older ones. Banknotes in circulation are 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, and 10,000 colones.

Tejas is used as a slang term for the 100-colón bill, and cinco tejas for the 500 colón, while the 1,000- and 5,000-colón bills are called rojo and tucán.

On January 2, 2005, the United States dollar was worth 458.100 colones. The colón has an unusual relationship with the U.S. dollar which may best be described as a "decaying peg"; instead of being defined by a constant value to the dollar, the colón instead grows progressively weaker at a fixed rate of about 3.294 colones per dollar per month.

Current CRC exchange rates

AUD | CAD | EUR | GBP | INR | NZD | USD