Honduran lempira Honduran lempira The lempira (, sign: L, ISO 4217 code: HNL) is the currency of Honduras. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. The lempira was named after the 16th-century "cacique" Lempira, a ruler of the indigenous Lenca people, who is renowned in Honduran folklore for leading the (ultimately unsuccessful) local native resistance against the Spanish "conquistador" forces. He is a national hero, and is honoured on both the 1 lempira note and the 20 and 50 centavos coins. The lempira was introduced in 1931, replacing the peso at par. In the late 1980s, the exchange rate was two lempiras to
Monetary system Monetary system A monetary system is the set of institutions by which a government provides money in a country's economy. Modern monetary systems usually consist of the national treasury, the mint, the central banks and commercial banks. A commodity money system is a monetary system in which a commodity such as gold or silver is made the unit of value and physically used as money. The money retains its value because of its physical properties. In some cases, a government may stamp a metal coin with a face, value or mark that indicates its weight or asserts its purity, but