Escudos to euros: the conversion rate and how to convert

The conversion rate is fixed

Converting escudos to euros has nothing to do with the exchange rate of a foreign currency. When Portugal adopted the euro, the Council of the European Union irrevocably fixed the rate between the two currencies¹:

1 euro = 200.482 escudos

This rate was adopted on 31 December 1998 and came into force on 1 January 1999². Unlike the dollar or the pound, the escudo has no daily quote: the rate is always the same, today as twenty years ago. That is why an escudo converter needs no internet connection and no market data, just a division.

From escudos to euros

To go from escudos to euros, divide the amount in escudos by 200.482:

euros = escudos ÷ 200.482

So 1,000 escudos is 1,000 ÷ 200.482 = €4.99; 100,000 escudos is €498.80. The result is rounded to the cent, as the official euro conversion rules require. You can do this sum in the escudo to euro converter.

From euros to escudos

The other way round, from euros to escudos, multiply by 200.482:

escudos = euros × 200.482

€1 is 200 escudos (more precisely 200.482, rounded to the whole escudo) and €100 is 20,048 escudos. It is a good way to translate a current price into the old currency and see how the scale of values has changed.

What is a conto

Conto is the popular name for a thousand escudos. Many Portuguese still think and talk in contos: “five contos” is 5,000 escudos, that is €24.94, and “a hundred contos” (100,000 escudos) is €498.80. Since a conto is worth almost 5 euros, there is a handy mental rule: to go from contos to euros, multiply by 5 (and divide by 5 the other way). It is only an approximation (the exact sum is to divide the escudos by 200.482), but it gives an instant sense of scale.

Until when escudos could be exchanged

Escudo notes and coins stopped being legal tender when the euro entered circulation in 2002. Even so, for years they could be exchanged at Banco de Portugal: coins until 31 December 2002 and banknotes until 28 February 2022¹. After that twenty-year deadline, escudos can no longer be exchanged for euros: the old notes and coins now have only collector value. Converting them still makes sense to understand what an old price, an inheritance or a stash of savings was worth, even if the physical money can no longer be exchanged.

Where this is useful

Knowing how to convert escudos helps you read the past in today’s euros: the price of a house advertised in contos in the 1990s, your grandparents’ salary, an old insurance premium. To understand what those amounts represent in today’s purchasing power, combine the conversion with the inflation calculator, which shows how the value of money changes over time, and with the compound interest calculator if you want to see what savings would grow to. To convert a specific amount, use the escudo to euro converter.