El Salvador uses the colones as its official currency. The name is derived from the Spanish colón, which means “Columbus” in remembrance of Christopher Columbus. There are currently 100 colones to 1 US dollar. The colones are divided into the centavo, which is equal to one-hundredth of a colón.In 1824, El Salvador adopted the peso as its official currency. The peso was divided into eight reales. Over time, the Salvadoran peso underwent several devaluations.El Salvador has recently changed from the previous currency, the colones. The colones were taken out of circulation in July 2001 and replaced by the ‘’U.S. Dollar’’ at a ratio of 1000 colones to 1 U.S. dollar, which seems like a great move for El Salvador.