New Currency for Curaçao and Sint Maarten

A country that has issued not just a new family of banknotes and coins, but a whole new currency, is Curaçao and Sint Maarten, where the Caribbean guilder (Gg) went into circulation on 31 March, replacing the Netherlands Antilles guilder.

The change has been a long time coming, given that the Netherlands Antilles – comprising Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, and Saba – was dissolved in 2010, with Curaçao and Sint Maarten becoming autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was then decided that the two countries would form a monetary union with a shared central bank and one currency – the Caribbean Guilder (Cg) – but the old currency continued to circulate whilst stocks lasted.

The new series is denominated in banknotes of Cg 10, Cg 20, Cg 50, Cg 100, and Cg 200 and in coins of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 cents, and Cg 1 and 5. The theme is ‘The World Under the Sea’ and both notes and coins have been designed with a distinctive Caribbean identity, celebrating the natural beauty, cultural heritage, and biodiversity of the two island nations.