CBCS St. Maarten branch.
PHILIPSBURG--The Caribbean guilder will be introduced in Curaçao and St. Maarten during the second half of 2024 at which time the currency sign will change from the current NAf. (Netherlands Antilles guilder) to Cg. (Caribbean guilder), the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS) stated in its 2022 annual report which was recently released.
According to the report, the exact date of the introduction “still needs to be determined.” CBCS said in its report that the introduction will be based on legislation that will be enacted at the introduction date; at this same date the Netherlands Antilles guilders will be withdrawn from circulation via an enacted law and the Netherlands Antilles guilder will not have the status of legal tender three months after the withdrawal.
According to CBCS, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) currency code for the Caribbean guilder will be XCG. The currency code normally starts with the first two letters of the country code. However, because the Caribbean guilder is the currency of two autonomous countries, the International Standard for currency codes stipulates that the currency should start with “X.” The “CG” stands for the Caribbean guilder. The currency sign will change from NAf. to “Cg.”
The denominations for the Caribbean guilder banknotes will be Cg 10, Cg 20, Cg 50, Cg 100, and Cg 200 (the existing 25- and 250-guilder banknotes will be replaced by the 20- and the 200-guilder banknotes). The denominations for the Caribbean guilder coins will be 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, 1 guilder and 5 guilders.
The Netherlands Antilles guilders can be exchanged for Caribbean guilders for 30 years: the first year at the commercial banks and thereafter at the CBCS.
The first three months after the introduction of the Caribbean guilder will be a co-circulation period, during which the public can pay with Netherlands Antilles guilders, but will receive as much as possible Caribbean guilders as change. After the co-circulation period, cash payments with the Netherlands Antilles guilders are no longer possible, as it will not have the status of legal tender. However, exchange of Netherlands Antilles guilders will still possible at the commercial banks up to one year after the withdrawal and, after that period, at the CBCS until thirty years after the withdrawal.
According to the report, vending machines and payment terminals will be adapted during the co-circulation period to allow customers to pay with the Netherlands Antilles guilder during the co-circulation period. Automatic teller machines (ATMs) will be dispensing Caribbean guilder banknotes starting the introduction date, while electronic/digital payments will also be effectuated in Caribbean guilders as of introduction date.
The exchange rate will be 1:1, meaning that for one Netherlands Antilles guilder the exchanger will receive one Caribbean guilder.
The peg against the US dollar will remain the same: US $1 equals XCG 1.79. CBCS said in the report that the introduction of the Caribbean guilder will therefore have no impact on the value of the currency of the countries Curaçao and St Maarten.
The size of the Caribbean guilder banknotes will remain the same as the size of the Netherlands Antilles guilder banknotes. The dimensions and weight of the Caribbean guilder coins will differ from those of the Netherlands Antilles guilder and the coins from the neighbouring countries and countries from which the monetary union receive most of their visitors, to prevent that lower denomination coins of other currencies can be used for the higher denominations of the Caribbean guilder in vending machines and payment terminals.
“The CBCS considers the community of Curaçao and St. Maarten as an important stakeholder group and will therefore actively involve this group in the Caribbean guilder project. The community will be kept up to date via an information campaign and in addition, several other stakeholder groups from the public and private sector will be consulted to provide input,” it was stated in the report.
