Honduran lempira

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The lempira (ISO 4217 code: HNL) is the currency of Honduras. It was introduced in 1931, replacing the peso at par.

The exchange rate was two lempiras to the U.S. dollar in the late 1980s (a twenty-cent coin is called a daime as it used to be worth the same as a U.S. dime). By December 2004, the exchange rate had gone up to around 18.75 HNL to 1 USD. During 2005 it stabilized at 19 HNL to 1 USD

The lempira is named after the cacique Lempira of the Lenca tribe, a Native American leader who fought the Spaniards. He is a national hero, and is honored on both the one lempira bill (which is red) and on the 50 cent coin.

The capital of Gracias a Dios department, Puerto Lempira, is also named after him, as is the department of Lempira.

The different values for lempiras are:

• 0.01 lempira - No Face
• 0.02 lempira - No Face
• 0.05 lempira - No Face
• 0.10 lempira - No Face
• 0.20 lempira - face of Lempira
• 0.50 lempira - face of Lempira

Banknotes

Banknotes are issued in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500.

These banknotes depict the following figures from Honduran history:

Amount	Portrait	Primary colour	Bill
1	Lempira	orange
2	Marco Aurelio Soto	purple
5	Francisco Morazan	blue
10	Jose Trinidad Cabañas	brown
20	Dionisio de Herrera	green
50	Juan Manuel Galvez	cyan
100	Jose Cecilio del Valle	orange
500	Ramon Rosa	violet

External links

• () [Central Bank of Honduras]