WILLEMSTAD - The Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten believes that the introduction of the new Caribbean Gulden (Guilder) will be completed in the second half of 2024. This new currency replaces the Netherlands Antillean guilder that had been in circulation since 1952.
The introduction of a new currency has become necessary in view of the expected shortages in the stock of the various denominations of banknotes and coins of the Dutch Antillean guilder.
The banknote printing company that produces Antillean guilder banknotes has also ceased production of banknotes and other banknote printing companies have indicated that they are unable to produce these banknotes based on the same specifications, partly in view of the outdated security features of the Netherlands Antillean guilder banknotes.
Changing the specifications of the Dutch Antillean guilder banknotes, resulting in the upgrading of these banknotes, is therefore necessary to be able to produce new banknotes to meet the demand.
Since the costs of upgrading the old banknotes and the effect this has on payment transactions are comparable to the introduction of a new currency, it is logical that a new currency should be introduced, according to the Bank.
What the new coin will look like is not yet known. However, the Caribbean guilder coins are issued in the following denominations: 5 guilders, 1 guilder, 50 cents, 25 cents, 10 cents, 5 cents and 1 cent. For banknotes, the denominations are 200 guilders, 100 guilders, 50 guilders, 20 guilders and 10 guilders.
The note of 250 guilders is replaced by the note of 200 Caribbean guilders and the note of 25 guilders by the note of 20 Caribbean guilders.
The new banknote denominations are more in line with general international payment practices, as in the case of the euro and the dollar.
The Caribbean guilder will be legally pegged to the US dollar at an exchange rate of US$1 = 1.79 Caribbean guilder. The exchange rate between the Netherlands Antillean guilder and the Caribbean guilder will be 1:1. The Netherlands Antillean guilder and the Caribbean guilder are equivalent.
