SVC (El Salvador Colon)

What Is the SVC (El Salvador Colon)?

SVC is the currency shortening for the El Salvador col\u00f3n, which was the official currency for El Salvador from 1892 to 2001; its symbol is a C with two slices running through it. The El Salvador col\u00f3n was comprised of 100 centavos. On Jan. 1, 2001, the Monetary Integration Act, passed by the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador the year before, supplanted the SVC with the U.S. dollar at a rate of 8.75 to 1.

Grasping SVC (El Salvador Colon)

In 1883, the First Monetary Law called for the adoption of the peso, isolated into 10 reales, as the official currency of El Salvador. In 1892, the Legislative Assembly under President Carlos Ezeta changed the name of the currency from peso to col\u00f3n out of appreciation for Christopher Columbus, to commemorate the fourth centennial of the discovery of the Americas.

History of the El Salvador Col\u00f3n

Upon its adoption in 1892, the col\u00f3n was pegged to the U.S. dollar at 2 col\u00f3nes to 1 U.S. dollar. The El Salvador col\u00f3n was taken on as the official currency of El Salvador in 1919 when it supplanted the peso at par. Around then, the Second Monetary Law declared that all cut, perforated and broken down coins would be eliminated from circulation and no replacements would qualify as legal tender.

From 1919 to 1931, the col\u00f3n remained pegged to the U.S. dollar at 2 to 1, yet when the country left the gold standard in 1931, its value was permitted to float against different currencies uninhibitedly.

On June 19, 1934, the Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador was made, and it acquired sole power to issue currency. On Aug. 31, 1934, it issued the main SVC banknotes in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 100 col\u00f3nes. In 1955, the bank started to issue 2 col\u00f3nes bills. In 1979, it initiated production of 50 col\u00f3nes bills, and in 1997, it presented 200 col\u00f3nes bills. Coins were stamped in groups of 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 25, and 50 centavos, and furthermore in divisions of 1 and 5 col\u00f3nes.

From its beginning in 1934, the Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador was a private entity, however in 1961, the government assumed direct command. Following many years of economic strife, the Central Reserve Bank became autonomous in 1990.

The U.S. Dollar Replaces the El Salvador Col\u00f3n

The El Salvador government established a series of measures to prod economic growth following the country's civil war somewhere in the range of 1980 and 1992. With an end goal to balance out the economy, the Monetary Integration Act of 2001 made a fixed exchange rate between the col\u00f3n and the dollar and removed the Central Reserve Bank's exclusive right to issue currency. The dollar became legal tender alongside the col\u00f3n. Since El Salvador can't print its own dollars, it initiated an instructive program to assist its residents with figuring out the value of the currency categories. The col\u00f3n has never officially been taken out from circulation as legal tender.