The currency in the Dominican Republic is the Dominican Peso. One peso is equal to 100 centavos. The official ISO code for the Dominican peso is DOP. The “$” symbol as well as the abbreviations R $ and dom $ can be used as abbreviations. The abbreviation ¢ can be used for the Centavos.
History of the Dominican currency
The Dominican peso was introduced at the same time the Dominican Republic gained independence from Haiti in 1844, replacing the previously valid Haitian gourde. From 1891 to 1897 the Dominican Republic had a second currency, the franc.
In 1905, the Dominican peso was replaced by the US dollar, at the rate of 5 pesos to one dollar. The US dollar was the valid currency of the Dominican Republic until 1937, when it was replaced by the peso oro. Nonetheless, the US dollar was retained until 1947, especially since no banknotes, only coins, were issued for the peso oro. In 1947 separate banknotes were printed for the peso oro.
All banknotes are marked “Este billete tiene fuerza libertoria para el pago de todas las obligaciónes públicas o privadas”, which means “This note has the discharging effect of being used for payments for all private and public obligations”.
In 2011, the central bank announced that from this point in time all peso oro banknotes will now be issued as peso Dominicano.
Since 1947 the value of a peso has always been roughly the same as that of a US dollar, without being directly linked to it. However, from around 1980 the Dominican Peso experienced a continuous decline in value and reached its lowest value in 2004 at a rate of USD 1 for 60 DOP. After a slight recovery, the value has leveled off at around 1:35 to 1:40 in relation to the USD in recent years.
Exchange into Dominican Peso
The Dominican Peso is a purely domestic currency and may not be exported. It is therefore not possible to exchange euros for Dominican pesos abroad, for example before starting a vacation trip to the Dominican Republic.