What is the official currency of Brazil?

Brazil’s official currency is the Brazilian real.

The real was introduced on 1 July 1994 as the central monetary product of Brazil’s Plano Real, an economic stabilization program designed to end years of severe inflation. It replaced the cruzeiro real. The currency’s ISO 4217 code is BRL, and its symbol is R$—a combination that distinguishes it from currencies using a plain dollar sign or the word “real.”

One real is divided into 100 centavos. The Central Bank of Brazil is responsible for issuing the currency, while Brazil’s national mint produces its coins and banknotes. Modern notes and coins feature Brazilian themes, including the Republic’s effigy, native wildlife and the Southern Cross constellation.

A language-related trap is the plural: one unit is a real, but two or more are reais in Portuguese. The Brazilian real is also easy to confuse with the former Portuguese real or with the Peruvian sol, Chilean peso and Argentine peso. Those are separate currencies, despite belonging to the same broad regional context.