New Caribbean Guilder On the Way

The Central Bank of Curaçao and St Maarten (CBCS) has said it expects that the introduction of the new Caribbean guilder will be completed in the second half of 2024. The new currency will replace the Netherlands Antillean guilder that has been in circulation since 1952.

Stocks of the various denominations of banknotes and coins of the existing currency are running low, and the original printer, Royal Joh Enschedé, has now exited banknote production. According to CBCS, other printers have indicated that they would be unable to produce the notes to the same specifications, which are in any case outdated.

Hence the need to upgrade the notes, and the decision to take the opportunity to introduce not just a new series, but a new currency, which will be pegged to the US dollar and issued at par with the Dutch Antilles guilder.

It is not yet known what the new Caribbean guilder notes and coins will look like, but they will be issued in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100 and a new high denomination 200 guilders for the notes, and 1 and 5 guilders, and 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents for the coins.