Colombian peso
The Colombian peso is the currency of Colombia. Its ISO 4217 code is COP and it is also informally abbreviated as COL$. Its sign is the peso symbol ($).
The exchange rate as of December 2004 was:
- 1 euro = 3,137.09 COP
- 1 U.S. dollar = 2,356.50 COP
Coins
The available coin denominations are:
- $20
- $50
- $100
- $200
- $500
- $1000
Since November 1996, a $1000 coin has been in circulation and as of April 2005 it is still legally valid for transactions as it has not been officially withdrawn by the authorities.
However, due to massive counterfeiting, Colombians have increasingly avoided the use of this denomination, the possibility of its withdrawal has been considered, and in practice its circulation has significantly decreased since 2002.
The problem of false $1000 coins has been considered widespread enough that, according to some observers, it may be possible that the number of bogus coins could have outnumbered that of legitimate ones. It was reported in the Colombian press throughout 2004 that, at a date yet to be determined, a new type of $1000 coin may be minted as a replacement in order to correct these problems. [1]
Bills
The available bill denominations are:
- $1,000 (Jorge Eliécer Gaitán)
- $2,000 (Francisco de Paula Santander)
- $5,000 (José Asunción Silva)
- $10,000 (Policarpa Salavarrieta)
- $20,000 (Julio Garavito Armero)
- $50,000 (Jorge Isaacs)
As noted above, the $1000 note was withdrawn from circulation to be replaced by a coin; however, it was subsequently reintroduced, with a new design, due to the coin counterfeiting problem.