Brazilian Real (BRL)

About the Brazilian Real

The Brazilian Real (BRL) is the official currency of Brazil, issued by the Banco Central do Brasil. Its symbol is R$, and one real is divided into 100 centavos. The real was created on 1 July 1994 by the Plano Real stabilization program, which replaced the cruzeiro real and ended years of hyperinflation. Cash circulates as banknotes from R$2 to R$200 and coins from 5 centavos to R$1, and the currency is used only in Brazil.

The real is a free-floating currency: its exchange rate has been determined in the foreign exchange market since January 1999, and the Banco Central do Brasil maintains no exchange rate target. Monetary policy instead pursues inflation targets set by the National Monetary Council, with the Selic rate as the policy instrument. Since January 2025 Brazil has operated a continuous inflation-targeting system, with a target of 3% for twelve-month IPCA inflation and a tolerance interval of 1.5 percentage points in either direction.

The real was introduced under Law 9,069: from 1 July 1994 it became the unit of Brazil's National Monetary System, replacing the cruzeiro real at the parity of the Unidade Real de Valor (URV) fixed for 30 June 1994. The URV, created in March 1994 at 647.50 cruzeiros reais, was an indexed unit of account designed to carry prices out of hyperinflation. Brazil floated the real on 15 January 1999 during a currency crisis and adopted inflation targeting by decree that June.

In the BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey of April 2025, the real was on one side of 0.9% of global over-the-counter foreign exchange turnover, about US$90 billion in daily trades, ranking as the 18th most traded currency worldwide and the second most traded in Latin America after the Mexican peso. Brazil's foreign exchange market operates under Law 14,286 of 2021, which replaced a decades-old regulatory framework, simplified foreign exchange transactions and modernized the regulation of capital flows.

Brazilian banknotes and coins are manufactured by the Casa da Moeda do Brasil, the state-owned mint, and issued by the central bank. Banknotes run from R$2 to R$200 and depict native fauna, such as the grouper on the R$100 and the maned wolf on the R$200, a note that entered circulation in September 2020. Coins run from 5 centavos to R$1; the R$1's obverse carries the effigy of the Republic. A 2024 central bank survey found that Pix instant payments had overtaken cash as Brazilians' most used payment method.