Brazilian Real

• Country: Brazil
• Currency: Real
• Alias: Brazilian real
• ISO 4217 CODE: BRL/986
• Symbol: R$

First introduced more than 300 years ago, the real returned to service as Brazil’s national currency in 1994, displacing the cruzeiro. Inflation has plagued the real for much of its modern existence, forcing the Central Bank to revalue the real on several occasions by merely shifting the decimal point in lieu of issuing new currency. The real reached a historic low exchange rate in 2002, but has been on a steady recovery ever since. As Latin America’s largest country by land area and population, Brazil is rapidly becoming a major economic power in the western hemisphere.

Background of the Brazilian Real

The República Federativa do Brasil is the largest country in Latin America as measured by both land mass and population. Originally settled by Portuguese explorers, the former colonial territory achieved its independence in 1822.

Brazil was governed by a military regime from 1964 through 1985. By the time the country was returned to civilian rule in 1985, inflation had already begun to place a chokehold on Brazilian economy. In 1994, Fernando Henrique Cardos was elected president and lead a successful campaign to abolish the cruzeiro and to reintroduce the real in an attempt to control inflation. The real was introduced on a 1:1 parity with the U.S. dollar, but by 2004, the real had declined significantly to USD $0.33.

The real is a floating currency, though the nation’s Central Bank has been forced to intervene on numerous occasions to maintain the currency’s value. Brazil has also experimented with issuing bank notes manufactured from polymer, a flexible, synthetic, plastic-based material. The plural of “real” is “reais.”

Thanks to a strong labor and bountiful natural resources, Brazil has become South America’s strongest economy in recent years. Brasil’s modern manufacturing capabilities have earned accolades on a global scale. One of the biggest commercial success stories involves aircraft builder Embraer (Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica S.A.), which produces small- to medium-sized commercial passenger jets used by major airlines around the world.

The real is divided into 100 centavos. Denominations for coins are 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 centavos; and 1 real. Denominations for banknotes are 1 real, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 reals.