The refusal of 100 Netherlands Antillean guilder bills by businesses is a big issue in Curaçao (see Monday and Tuesday newspapers), but not so much in St. Maarten. The latter hopefully means counterfeits of that denomination which led to this trend are not widely distributed here, at least not yet.
Mind you, a considerable portion of local financial transactions is done in US dollars instead of the monetary union’s official currency, certainly where it regards cash. Nevertheless, recent news out of Willemstad has probably not increased the NAf. 100 banknote’s popularity on the Dutch side either.
Thankfully, a new Caribbean guilder will be introduced in 2025 and the features of its bills are supposedly more difficult to imitate. Until then, implied the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS), there is little recourse.
Neither companies nor individuals can apparently be forced to accept a particular banknote. However, this raises the question what if they were to ban all guilders and – for example – take only dollars.
No additional NAf. bills are now understandably being printed pending the transition to next year’s Cg. And according to CBCS, taking 100-guilder banknotes out of circulation is not the answer, because counterfeiters will then simply switch to the 50-guilder variety.
The financial sector supervisor has regularly offered various tips on how to check the authenticity of NAf. bills. However, if still unsure, it might be best to prevent rather than lament.
