Like it happens with most of the European Union countries, the national and official currency of Spain is the euro. Other countries that also use the euro are Portugal, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands…
The euro arrived to Spain in 2002, when the EU members agreed to use a common currency in order to make easier travel and trade through the eurozone. One euro is divided into 100 cents, and you´ll find eight different types of coins for the Spanish currency: 1cts, 2cents, 5 cents, 10cents, 20 cents, 50 cents as well as 1euro and 2-euro coins. When talking about the Spanish bank notes, you can find 7 different kinds: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euros.
An interesting fact about the Spanish currency, is that every country of the European Union has its own kind of design for each coin. The Spanish currency symbol is €.
What was the currency of Spain before the Euro?
The former currency of Spain before the euro was called the peseta, it was used in Madrid, Barcelona and every single city of the country, included of course the Canary and Baleares Islands as well as Ceuta y Melilla.
Spain started to use the peseta in October of 1868, when it joined the Latin Monetary Union. The peseta was used in Spain from 1869 to 2002 until it was changed to the euro. Although you can´t pay anymore with pesetas, you can still change them for euros at the Banco de España, until December of 2020.
What was the old Spanish currency? History
Of course, the peseta wasn´t the first type of money Spain had, there were many other kinds of Spanish currency before. Previously, Spain used the Spanish dinero, the maravedí and the Spanish real. During the 10th century, Spain copied the French Denier and started to use the Spanish dinero.
From the 11th to the 14th century, the official Spanish currency was the maravedi. Last of all, right before the peseta, from the 14th century to 1864 Spain used the real.
Currency of Spain exchange rate:
The euro is currently the second most traded currency in the world, right the US dollar. As of April 2020, 1 euro could be exchange for 1.08 US dollars and for 0.87 British pounds. This just shows that now a days the Euro is still one of the most powerful currencies in the world.
This is the Spanish currency exchange rate with other countries:
- Spanish currency to Indian rupee: 1€ = 82,25 IRP
- Spanish currency to Australian dollars: 1€ = 1,80 AUD
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Currency of other Spanish speaking countries:
Although they share the same language, they don´t have the same money. Spain is the only country in the European Union in which the official language is Spanish, therefore is the only one who uses the euro. Mexico uses the Mexican peso, Bolivia uses the boliviano, Peru uses the sol…
That´s everything you need to know about the currency of Spain, if you have any question or any other information you would like to tell us about it, please let us know in the comments. We hope you found this article useful.