Paraguay’s money is about to look completely different. The Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP) will present the new guaraní banknotes on Monday, 5 October 2026, the institution has announced. The unveiling will take place at 14:30 in the Aula Magna of the BCP Institute in Asunción, timed to coincide with the 83rd anniversary of the guaraní. It will be the first full redesign of the country’s banknotes in more than 60 years.
What is changing, and what is not
The BCP has confirmed that the redesign will not alter the value of the currency. All six existing denominations, ₲2,000, ₲5,000, ₲10,000, ₲20,000, ₲50,000 and ₲100,000, will remain in circulation. There will be no removal of zeros and no change to the wider monetary system. The changes are limited to the artwork and imagery printed on each note.
From presidents to popular culture
Paraguay’s current banknotes largely feature portraits of historical figures. The ₲100,000 note carries an image of the Jesuit priest San Roque González de Santa Cruz. Also, the ₲10,000 note bears the likeness of Dr José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, the country’s first head of state after independence. The new family appears set to shift that balance: the BCP says the front of each note will now be linked to Guaraní culture more broadly. And the reverse will showcase the flora and fauna of what the bank describes as Paraguay’s six ecological regions.
This represents a notable change in emphasis, from individual statesmen towards symbols shared by the wider population. A promotional video released by the BCP ahead of the launch hinted at some of that imagery, featuring tereré, the cold-infused drink widely consumed across Paraguay. Alongside the ñandutí lace, the bellbird, the Paraguayan polka dance, indigenous communities and the national flag. The bank has not yet confirmed which of these elements will appear on which denomination.
Designing the new guaraní banknotes
Work on the new notes began in 2023, when the BCP opened an international public tender for their design. Seven of the world’s leading banknote and security printing houses submitted bids, including De La Rue, Crane, Giesecke+Devrient, Koenig & Bauer and Orell Füssli. The contract ultimately went to Oberthur Fiduciaire, a French firm, for US$270,000, the lowest of the offers received.
Oberthur is not new to Paraguayan currency. Public banknote catalogues list the firm as the printer of the country’s existing ₲100,000 note. Meaning the same company that has long produced Paraguay’s money will now also shape its next generation of designs. The BCP says the wider project also drew on international experience and the input of Paraguayan historians, cultural figures and biologists.
Part of a regional trend
Paraguay is not alone in refreshing its currency. Argentina rolled out new $10,000 and $20,000 peso notes in 2025 featuring independence-era figures such as Manuel Belgrano and Juan Bautista Alberdi, continuing its own tradition of honouring historical leaders. Paraguay’s approach differs in that it appears to be moving away from individual figures on its main note designs, leaning instead on cultural and natural imagery shared across the population.
A currency with a long history
The guaraní replaced the Paraguayan peso on 8 September 1944, with an original family of seven notes. A new, uniformly sized family followed in 1963, the last full redesign before the one now planned. Low-value notes were converted into coins in 1976, while higher denominations were introduced in subsequent decades, culminating in the ₲100,000 note in 1998. Polymer versions of the ₲2,000 and ₲5,000 notes followed in 2009 and 2011, to improve their durability.
When they enter circulation, the new guaraní banknotes will mark the first time in more than 60 years that Paraguayans see a genuinely new set of banknote designs, rather than simply new denominations added to the existing series.
Want to know more about the current Paraguayan banknotes? Read The Asunción Times‘ series Money Talks.
