Prices in Paraguay can contain a surprising number of zeros: a coffee may cost thousands of guaraníes and a monthly salary millions. Yet the name printed on today’s notes has survived since the 1940s. While neighbouring countries replaced currencies, renamed units or removed zeros, Paraguay kept the guaraní.
That continuity began with Decree-Law 655 of 5 October 1943. The reform created the Régimen Monetario Orgánico, declared the guaraní the national unit, divided it into 100 céntimos and gave it the crossed-G symbol now rendered as ₲. The first family of guaraní banknotes entered circulation in 1944.
Why replace the peso?
Paraguay’s earlier monetary history was not a straight line. Colonial coins, foreign currencies, paper pesos and several units of account circulated or influenced prices. By the early twentieth century, the peso fuerte had suffered instability and repeated issuance, while foreign exchange controls and different monetary references complicated the system.
The 1943 reform’s official explanation set out ambitious aims: end confusion and instability, create a modern unit, support internal and external stability, unify responsibility for issuing money and affirm monetary sovereignty. It made the state-owned Banco de la República del Paraguay the sole issuer of notes and coins.
The conversion was one guaraní for every 100 pesos fuertes; one céntimo equalled one peso fuerte. Old and new money coexisted during a transition, with deadlines for exchange. Contracts, prices, taxes, wages and accounts had to move to the new unit.
This was not only a new label. Dividing the old figures by 100 simplified cash handling and accounting, while concentrating issuance was meant to stop fragmented monetary responsibility. The reform also prohibited using the peso oro sellado as a general unit of account.
Why call it guaraní?
The reform’s contemporary commentary says officials wanted a short word that was recognizably Paraguayan, easy to pronounce in other languages and clearly different from peso. Alternatives reportedly included nacional, paraguayo, patacón, escudo and león. They chose guaraní as a tribute to the people whose language and cultural influence had shaped the nation.
That choice carries a tension worth noticing. The state turned an Indigenous ethnonym and the name of a living language into a symbol of national unity. Guaraní language is central to Paraguayan identity, but Indigenous Guaraní peoples and other Indigenous communities have not automatically shared equally in the economic system represented by the currency. A national symbol can honour a culture while public policy still owes its people material rights.
The notes evolved
The first seven-note family presented in September 1944 comprised ₲1, ₲5, ₲10, ₲50, ₲100, ₲500 and ₲1,000. The denominations had different sizes. A 1963 family standardized dimensions and added ₲5,000 and ₲10,000 notes.
As prices rose and small paper notes wore out, low denominations migrated to coins. ₲50,000 entered in 1990, ₲100,000 in 1998 and ₲20,000 in the 2000s. Polymer appeared for frequently handled ₲2,000 and ₲5,000 notes in 2009 and 2011. Designs have featured political and military figures, buildings, historical events, arts and landscapes.
The institution behind the notes also changed. The modern Banco Central del Paraguay was created in 1952 and received exclusive emission functions. Today its organic law still states that the guaraní is the monetary unit, formally divided into 100 céntimos, although céntimos have no practical role in everyday cash prices.
Does longevity mean the value never changed?
No. Keeping one currency name is not the same as keeping purchasing power or an exchange rate unchanged. Inflation accumulated over eight decades, which is why the useful denominations moved from one-guaraní notes to notes worth tens of thousands. The guaraní has also appreciated and depreciated against the dollar at different times.
What makes it unusual is the absence of a redenomination that cancels zeros and launches a ‘new’ unit. The BCP describes it as one of the region’s oldest continuing currencies. That institutional continuity is meaningful, but it should not be turned into the false claim that Paraguayan prices have been stable since 1943.
The long life of the unit also creates a practical debate. Removing zeros could make figures shorter, but a redenomination carries printing, software, accounting, education and confusion costs. The BCP’s banknote-modernization plans have explicitly distinguished a new design family from changing the monetary unit or suppressing zeros.
How to write and say it
In international finance the code is PYG. In Paraguay, prices appear with G., Gs. or the official crossed-G symbol ₲. Spanish commonly uses singular guaraní and plural guaraníes; everyday speech often shortens large amounts and relies on context. A dot is generally a thousands separator in local notation, so ₲1.000 means one thousand, not one guaraní with decimals.
Visitors should count zeros carefully, confirm whether a quoted amount is in guaraníes or dollars, and avoid converting every small purchase mentally using an old rate. Exchange rates change; the BCP reference and the actual rate offered by a bank, card or exchange house are not necessarily identical.
More than a unit of account
The guaraní emerged from an authoritarian-era reform under Higinio Morínigo, not from an apolitical technical vacuum. It nevertheless outlived that government, the Stroessner dictatorship, democratic transition, financial crises and the arrival of instant digital payments.
Its history explains the paradox of Paraguay’s money: large nominal figures coexist with remarkable continuity of name. The guaraní is not unchanged, but it has been adaptable enough to survive—moving from paper notes worth one unit to polymer, electronic balances and transfers worth millions without needing to be renamed.