El Salvador made global headlines a few weeks ago by becoming the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. This Central American country had already adopted the US dollar as its currency a couple of decades ago.
Which other countries in the region use the dollar as their currency?
A) Dominican Republic
B) Ecuador and Panama
C) Honduras and Jamaica
ANSWER
B) Ecuador and Panama.
While the latter country adopted the dollar in 1904, shortly after its separation from Colombia and as part of a process of independence supported by the US, Ecuador adopted it in January 2000 due to the deep economic crisis the country was experiencing at the time. El Salvador adopted the dollar a year later, in 2001, as a mechanism to stabilize the economy and make the country more attractive to foreign investors.