Céntimo Céntimo The céntimo (in Spanish-speaking countries) or cêntimo (in Portuguese-speaking countries) was a currency unit of Spain, Portugal and their former colonies. The word derived from the Latin meaning "hundredth part". The main Spanish currency, before the euro, was the peseta which was divided into 100 céntimos. In Portugal it was the real and later the escudo, until it was also replaced by the euro. In the European community "cent" is the official name for one hundredth of a euro. However, both "céntimo" (in Spanish) and "cêntimo" (in Portuguese) are commonly used to describe the euro cent. Céntimo or cêntimo
Euro states; it was not a currency in its own right. They could not be set earlier, because the ECU depended on the closing exchange rate of the non-euro currencies (principally the pound sterling) that day. The procedure used to fix the conversion rate between the Greek drachma and the euro was different, since the euro by then was already two years old. While the conversion rates for the initial eleven currencies were determined only hours before the euro was introduced, the conversion rate for the Greek drachma was fixed several months beforehand. The currency was introduced in non-physical form (traveller's