1 Real 50 Years of Central Bank

The Banco Central do Brasil was established in December 1964 under the military government of Castelo Branco, replacing the Superintendência da Moeda e do Crédito (SUMOC) as the country's monetary authority. Its founding came during a period of serious fiscal instability, and one of its earliest mandates was taming inflation that had been running above 80% annually. That inflation problem would remain unresolved for another three decades, making the 50-year anniversary something of a complicated milestone to commemorate — the institution spent roughly the first half of its existence failing at its core function before the 1994 Plano Real finally stabilized the currency.