| abstract
| - Here is a list of the twelve independent countries of South America, and their national currencies.
* Colombia: Colombian peso
* Ecuador: United States dollar
* Peru: neuvo sol
* Bolivia: boliviano
* Paraguay: guaraní
* Chile: Chilean peso
* Argentina: Argentine peso
* Uruguay: Uruguyan peso
* Brazil: real
* Suriname: Surinamese dollar
* Guyana: Guyanese dollar
* Venezuela: bolívar fuerte The law of each nation establishes a central bank. This law is not the same in each nation, but the typical duties of a central bank are to issue the banknotes and the coins, to control the money supply and the inflation, to calculate the economic statistics, and to regulate the commercial banks. So each nation separately issues the banknotes and the coins, which form the separate national currencies. Some currencies have a division, like 100 centavos in the boliviano of Bolivia, or like 100 centímos in the neuvo sol of Peru. The Central Bank of Ecuador does not issue a national currency. Instead, Ecuador uses the United States dollar. In my list, I have not included any Central American countries, or any Caribbean islands off the South American coast; but I also have not included French Guiana which is in South America, or the Falkland Islands which are near Argentina. French Guiana, which is part of France, which is in the eurozone. Thus the euro is the currency of French Guiana. The Falkland Islands are territory of the United Kingdom. They have their own currency, the Falkland Pound.
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