Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten

October 26, 2010 6:44 AM

Now that the Netherlands Antilles has been disolved on the 10th of October and Curaçao and St. Maarten have thereafter formed a monetary union, the Bank of the Netherlands Antilles has become the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten, and also the successor of the bank.

The communal currency is the Caribbean guilder (CMg).
Just like the Netherlands Antillean guilder (NAf), the Caribbean guilder is coupled to the American dollar against a rate of US$ 1 = CMg 1.79. The Caribbean guilder is not a legal currency yet because the banknotes and coins still have to be designed and printed respectively struck. This process has already begun but will take approximately one and a half year.
Therefore, the Central Bank expects to circulate the new banknotes and coins on a date to be determined later in 2012.
The Netherlands Antillean guilder will be taken out of circulation within three months after the Caribbean guilder has been put into circulation. Until then the Netherlands Antillean guilder will remain the legal currency.
Therefore, both the Netherlands Antillean guilder and the Caribbean guilder will be considered legal currency during that period. Subsequently, the Caribbean guilder will be the only legal currency on Curaçao and St. Maarten.
From the moment the Caribbean guilder is circulated, the Netherlands Antillean guilders can be exchanged against Caribbean guilders during a period of 30 years with the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten against a one-to-one ratio. Furthermore, the giral payments and bank balances in Netherlands Antillean guilders will remain up to the moment of the circulation of the Caribbean guilder.
The American dollar will become the legal currency on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba on January 1st 2011. The Netherlands Antillean guilder will remain the legal currency on these islands until that date.

21 October 2010