4 Reais – Brazil

In 1994, Brazil was emerging from one of the most severe and prolonged periods of hyperinflation in modern economic history. For over a decade, successive economic plans had failed to stabilize prices, with annual inflation reaching a staggering 2,500% in 1993. This environment created immense social and economic distortion: prices changed multiple times per day, savings were eroded, and the currency (the cruzeiro) had become virtually meaningless as a unit of account. The government's previous attempts at stabilization, often involving price freezes and currency changes, had provided only temporary relief before inflation returned with even greater force, eroding public confidence.

The turning point arrived on July 1, 1994, with the launch of the Plano Real (Real Plan), masterminded by then-Finance Minister Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Unlike earlier shock treatments, this plan was a meticulously phased, multi-step process. It began in 1993 with the creation of a virtual unit of value, the Unidade Real de Valor (URV), which acted as a stable pricing index alongside the volatile cruzeiro. This allowed the economy to gradually re-anchor prices before the formal introduction of a new currency. On July 1st, the real (BRL) was officially launched, initially pegged at parity to the U.S. dollar, providing a clear and credible nominal anchor.

The immediate effect was dramatic. Monthly inflation, which had been around 50% in June 1994, plummeted to single digits within months. The plan successfully restored the currency's functions as a store of value and medium of exchange, bringing immediate relief to the population and laying the groundwork for sustained economic growth. The Real Plan's success propelled Cardoso to the presidency later that year and is widely credited with ushering in a new era of macroeconomic stability in Brazil, though the subsequent management of the dollar peg would present significant challenges in the years to follow.