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Banknotes and coins serve as a medium of exchange, store of value and unit of account. For these
reasons, it is important to be familiar with the characteristics of the banknotes and
coins currently in circulation in Mexico.
Monetary unit
In order to simplify the management of money denominated in domestic currency on
January 1, 1993 a new monetary unit came into use, equivalent to 1,000 pesos of the previous unit. In
order to distinguish between the new and previous unit, the term “new” was
placed temporarily before the new unit. This term was eliminated in 1996.
On January 1, 1993, Banco de México issued a new series of notes with the term “new” placed
before the unit. These notes,
known as type B notes, were characterized by having the same design as the
previous notes. In October 1994, another note series -type C notes- was issued,
which also contained the inscription “new pesos,” but with a new design.
Starting in 1996, the term "new" was eliminated from the note series.
As for coins, from January 1, 1993 to December 31, 1995, Banco de México put a
series of coins in circulation, with
the term “new” or the abbreviation “N” appearing before the word “pesos”
or the abbreviation “$.” These coins, known as type B coins, are different from
those used as the monetary unit until December 31, 1992. The coins minted from January 1, 1996 on, known as
type C coins, are physically similar to type B coins, but do not include the
word "new" or the abbreviation "N" before the word "pesos" or the abbreviation
"$".
The aforementioned banknotes and coins are legal tender in the country, in
accordance with
Mexico's monetary law (*). Banknotes and coins that represented
the monetary unit until December 31, 1992 have
already been demonetized; however, they can be exchanged for their equivalents
in current circulation in any
exchange center or
credit institution (bank).
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