What kind of money should tourists and longer-term residents bring with them to Cape Verde?

One of the questions most often asked by visitors to Cape Verde, based on some of the activity on the travel websites, pertains to foreign exchange. This posting will help you to plan ahead with respect to your monetary instruments.

OFFICIAL CURRENCY:
The official cash currency of Cape Verde is the Cape Verdean Escudo (CVE). The value of the escudo is pegged at a permanently fixed exchange rate to the Euro:

€1 = 110.265 ECV.

CASH

Because the escudo is pegged to the euro at a permanently fixed rate, euro cash is accepted everywhere in Cape Verde. Since you can't buy escudos outside Cape Verde, be sure to bring euros. You will receive in exchange, 100 CVE for each euro. So there is a cost to using euros. You could always go to the bank to exchange euros but you will have to pay a fee at the bank as well as wait in long lines to be served.

There is also a black market in currency exchange. You will find some of the "street bankers" near the market on the Plateau in Praia (Santiago). You'll get a slight better rate than the banks, but I would be very cautious because you may run the risk of getting counterfeit notes. For me, it's not worth the risk of getting a few extra pennies.

Other currencies are not readily accepted in local establishments. But if you have British pounds sterling, US dollars or Brazilian reas, they are readily exchanged at the banks.