Currency in Circulation

Currency in Circulation is the portion of the monetary base consisting of banknotes and coins issued by the central bank that are held by the public outside the banking system. It is a key money-and-banking indicator of cash demand, liquidity, and the structure of the money supply. This Currency in Circulation series is part of the Latin Macro Watch (LMW) database maintained by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on data.iadb.org, giving economists, monetary analysts, and journalists a harmonized view of cash holdings across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Coverage

The series spans 18 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean at annual, monthly, and quarterly frequency, covering the period 1990–2026. Values are available as % of GDP or % of M2; in constant prices (CPI-deflated); and in millions of USD or domestic currency — each reported as an average of period or end of period. Moving averages (MA3, MA6, MA12) and month-on-month (MoM %), quarter-on-quarter (QoQ %), and year-on-year (YoY %) transformations support trend analysis.

Sources

Data are compiled from official central banks and statistical offices, including Banco Central do Brasil, Banco Central de la República Argentina, Banco Central de Reserva del Perú, Central Bank of The Bahamas, and INEGI - Mexico. The IDB standardizes these national sources into a comparable cross-country dataset.

Show more

Format	CSV
Language	en
Country	Argentina Bahamas Trinidad & Tobago Belize Costa Rica Dominican Republic Ecuador Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia El Salvador Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Panama Uruguay Venezuela Barbados Paraguay Peru Suriname
Data notes	What does the Currency in Circulation indicator measure? It measures the portion of the monetary base made up of banknotes and coins issued by the central bank that are held by the public outside the banking system. How many countries and which frequencies and period are covered? The series covers 18 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean at annual, monthly, and quarterly frequency, over the period 1990–2026. What units and transformations are available? Values are available as % of GDP or % of M2; in constant prices (CPI-deflated); and in millions of USD or domestic currency, each as an average or end of period. Moving averages (MA3, MA6, MA12) and MoM %, QoQ %, and YoY % transformations are also provided. Where does the data come from? Data are compiled by the IDB from official central banks and statistical offices, such as Banco Central do Brasil, Banco Central de la República Argentina, Banco Central de Reserva del Perú, Central Bank of The Bahamas, and INEGI - Mexico. What is this indicator typically used for? Analysts use currency in circulation to gauge cash demand and liquidity, study the money supply structure, monitor informality and payment habits, and compare cash usage across Latin American and Caribbean economies. How do I cite this indicator? Cite it as: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Latin Macro Watch — "Currency in Circulation". data.iadb.org/dataset/latin-macro-watch-dataset.