The Coinage Reform of 1992

by Don Bailey

In early 1992, in order to stabilise the complex economy of Mexico and to better control inflation and the rate of exchange, President Carlos Salinas de Gotari requested the director general of the Casa de Moneda de México, Alfredo Lelo de Larrea y Robles, to devise a new coinage system with a newly designated monetary unit: the nuevo peso (new peso). In the new system the decimal was moved by three digits to eliminate the last three zeros of the current denominations. This enabled Mexico to make use of the national currency and coinage still circulating at the time.

The decree authorising the new monetary system was published on 22 June 1992 in the Diario Oficial de la Federación and became effective on 1 January 1993.

On 1 January 1995 the term nuevo was deleted from the name of the denominations on the one peso and larger coins. The nuevos pesos continued to circulate, but the coinage struck after 1 January 1996 had only the peso symbol ($) in front of the denomination.