Frequently Asked Questions

As part of the agreement with respect to the constitutional reform of the former Netherlands Antilles, a monetary union has been established between Curaçao and Sint Maarten.

In the “Regeling Gemeenschappelijk Geldstelsel Curaçao en Sint Maarten” that regulates the currency of the monetary union of these two countries, it is stipulated that the Caribbean guilder will replace the current Netherlands-Antillean guilder (NAf.).

Producing banknotes and coins is necessary because—as studies have shown—many people in Curaçao and Sint Maarten still only use cash for making payments. The economies of these countries are mainly “cash based.” Financial inclusion also plays a role, since still not everyone has a bank account.

Cash also remains important since, as legal tender, it can always be used as a means of payment and serves as an ideal alternative to digital payments in the event of power and/or internet outages and natural disasters when digital banking/payments become unavailable.

Another advantage of cash payments is their anonymity, which ensures the payer's privacy, as cash payments are completely separate from any digital systems.

Introducing a new currency has become necessary in view of the expected shortages in the stock of the different denominations of banknotes and coins of the Netherlands Antilles guilder. The banknote printing company that produces the Netherlands Antilles guilder banknotes has also discontinued the production of banknotes and other banknote printing companies have indicated that they – considering among others the outdated security features of the Netherlands Antilles guilder banknotes – are not able to produce these banknotes based on the same specifications. Changing the specifications of the Netherlands Antilles guilder banknotes, resulting in upgrading these banknotes, is therefore necessary to be able to produce new banknotes to comply with the demand. Since the costs of upgrading the Netherlands Antilles guilder banknotes and the effect hereof on the payments systems are comparable with introducing a new currency, it was considered the logical time to introduce the new currency.

Furthermore, the outdated specifications of the current banknotes and coins, combined with modern technological developments, allow for the production of quality counterfeits.

Finally, the risk of stock shortages and the inadequate security features represent a real threat to the public’s confidence in the existing legal tender and thus in the security and efficiency of the payment system as a whole.

The Caribbean-guilder coins will be issued in the following denominations: 5 guilders, 1 guilder, 50 cents, 25 cents, 10 cents, 5 cents and 1 cent.

For banknotes, the denominations will be 200 guilders, 100 guilders, 50 guilders, 20 guilders and 10 guilders.

The NAf 250-guilder banknote will be replaced by the 200 Caribbean-guilder note and the NAf 25-guilder banknote by the 20 Caribbean-guilder note.

The new banknote denominations are more in line with the general international payment-system practices, such as in the case of the euro and the dollar.

Like the NAf, the Caribbean guilder will be legally pegged to the U.S. dollar at an exchange rate of US$1 = 1.79.

For the public, it means that they will have to exchange their NAf cash for Caribbean guilders at their commercial bank or have the amount of their cash deposited into their bank account.

From the day of introduction, the public will only receive Caribbean guilder notes when withdrawing cash from ATMs.

The CBCS is responsible for the design and for commissioning the printing of the banknotes. The responsibility for designing and minting coins in various denominations also vests with the CBCS.

The design and specifications for the coins are described in article 9 and 10 of the “Regeling Gemeenschappelijk Geldstelsel Curaçao en Sint Maarten.” The materials from which the coins are made as well as the weights, dimensions and quantity of these coins shall be determined by the CBCS.

The introduction of the Caribbean guilder is planned for mid 2024.

The Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten is the copyright holder.

The exchange rate between the Netherlands Antillean guilder and the Caribbean guilder is 1:1. The Netherlands Antillean guilder and the Caribbean guilder are of equal value.

The abbreviation for the Caribbean guilder will be Cg. 

However, the official currency code in the payment system will be XCG. Reason for this is that the official currency-code of more than one country (which is the case of the Countries of Curacao and Sint Maarten) always starts with a 'X'.

With the Netherlands-Antillean guilder we use NAf. as the currency-symbol, while the official currency-code is ANG.