The
dollar (
signA currency sign is a graphic symbol often used as a shorthand for a currency's name. Internationally, ISO 4217 codes are used instead of currency signs, though currency signs may be in common use in their respective countries...
:
$The dollar sign is a symbol primarily used to indicate the various dollar and peso units of currency around the world.-Origin:The sign is attested in business correspondence between the British, Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans in the 1770s, as referring to the Spanish-Mexican peso, known as...
;
codeISO 4217 is the international standard describing three-letter codes to define the names of currencies established by the International Organization for Standardization...
:
BSD) has been the
currencyIn economics, the term currency can refer either to a particular currency, for example the US dollar, or to the coins and banknotes of a particular currency, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
of
The BahamasThe Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is an English-speaking country consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 rocks. It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba, Hispaniola and the Caribbean Sea, northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United...
since 1966. It is normally abbreviated with the
dollar signThe dollar sign is a symbol primarily used to indicate the various dollar and peso units of currency around the world.-Origin:The sign is attested in business correspondence between the British, Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans in the 1770s, as referring to the Spanish-Mexican peso, known as...
$, or alternatively
B$ to distinguish it from other
dollarThe dollar is the name of the official currency in several countries, including Australia, Canada, the Eastern Caribbean territories, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States.-History:...
-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100
centIn many national currencies, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1/100 of the basic monetary unit. The word also refers to the coin which is worth one cent....
s.
The Bahamian dollar is
peggedA fixed exchange rate, sometimes called a pegged exchange rate, is a type of exchange rate regime wherein a currency's value is matched to the value of another single currency or to a basket of other currencies, or to another measure of value, such as gold.A fixed exchange rate is usually used to...
to the U.S. dollar on a one-to-one basis. The Central Bank of The Bahamas states that it uses reserve requirements, changes in the Bank discount rate and selective credit controls, supplemented by moral suasion as main instruments of monetary policy, the objective of which is to keep stable conditions, including credit, in order to maintain the parity between the U.S.
The
dollar (
signA currency sign is a graphic symbol often used as a shorthand for a currency's name. Internationally, ISO 4217 codes are used instead of currency signs, though currency signs may be in common use in their respective countries...
:
$The dollar sign is a symbol primarily used to indicate the various dollar and peso units of currency around the world.-Origin:The sign is attested in business correspondence between the British, Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans in the 1770s, as referring to the Spanish-Mexican peso, known as...
;
codeISO 4217 is the international standard describing three-letter codes to define the names of currencies established by the International Organization for Standardization...
:
BSD) has been the
currencyIn economics, the term currency can refer either to a particular currency, for example the US dollar, or to the coins and banknotes of a particular currency, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
of
The BahamasThe Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is an English-speaking country consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 rocks. It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba, Hispaniola and the Caribbean Sea, northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United...
since 1966. It is normally abbreviated with the
dollar signThe dollar sign is a symbol primarily used to indicate the various dollar and peso units of currency around the world.-Origin:The sign is attested in business correspondence between the British, Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans in the 1770s, as referring to the Spanish-Mexican peso, known as...
$, or alternatively
B$ to distinguish it from other
dollarThe dollar is the name of the official currency in several countries, including Australia, Canada, the Eastern Caribbean territories, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States.-History:...
-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100
centIn many national currencies, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1/100 of the basic monetary unit. The word also refers to the coin which is worth one cent....
s.
Relationship with the U.S. dollar
The Bahamian dollar is
peggedA fixed exchange rate, sometimes called a pegged exchange rate, is a type of exchange rate regime wherein a currency's value is matched to the value of another single currency or to a basket of other currencies, or to another measure of value, such as gold.A fixed exchange rate is usually used to...
to the U.S. dollar on a one-to-one basis. The Central Bank of The Bahamas states that it uses reserve requirements, changes in the Bank discount rate and selective credit controls, supplemented by moral suasion as main instruments of monetary policy, the objective of which is to keep stable conditions, including credit, in order to maintain the parity between the U.S. dollar and the Bahamian dollar while allowing economic development to proceed.
Although the U.S. dollar (as any other foreign currency) is subject to exchange control laws in The Bahamas, the parity between Bahamian dollars and U.S. dollars means that any business will accept either U.S. or Bahamian currency and many of the businesses that serve tourists have extra U.S. dollars on hand for the convenience of American tourists.
History
The dollar replaced the
poundThe pound was the currency of the Bahamas until 1966. It was equivalent to the pound sterling and was divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. Ordinary UK coinage circulated...
at a rate of 1 dollar = 7
shillingThe shilling is a unit of currency used in current and former English Commonwealth countries and still used in countries which have become republics, such as Kenya. The word shilling comes from schilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of...
s in 1966. This rate allowed the establishment of parity with the U.S. dollar, due to the sterling/dollar rate then being fixed at £1 = $2.80. It may also explain the unusual 15 cent coin, since this was roughly equivalent to 1 shilling.
Coins
In 1966, coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 15, 25, 50 cents and 1 dollar. The 1 cent was struck in nickel-brass, the 5, 10, and 15 cent in
cupronickelCupronickel or Coppernickel is an alloy of copper that contains nickel and strengthening elements, such as iron and manganese. Cupronickel is highly resistant to corrosion in seawater, because its electrode potential is adjusted to be neutral with regard to seawater...
, the 25 cent in nickel, and the 50 cent and 1 dollar in silver. The 10 cent was scallop shaped, whilst the 15 cent was square. Silver coins were not issued for circulation after 1966. Bronze replaced nickel-brass in the 1 cent in 1970, followed by brass in 1974 and copper-plated zinc in 1985. In 1989, cupro-nickel 50 cent and 1 dollar coins were issued for circulation, although they did not replace the corresponding banknotes.
The current 1, 5, and 25 cent coins are about the same size as their U.S. counterparts but with different metal compositions. The 15 cent coins are still produced by the Central Bank
http://www.centralbankbahamas.com/faqs.lasso?cmd=view&category=Issuer%20of%20Banknotes%20and%20Coins but are not commonly used. All coins now bear the
Bahamian Coat of ArmsThe coat of arms of the Bahamas contains a shield with the national symbols as its focal point, the shield is supported by a marlin and flamingo....
on one side with the words "Commonwealth of The Bahamas" and the date. The reverses of the coins show objects from Bahamian culture with the value of the coins in words. The 1 cent has a starfish, the 5 cent a
pineapplePineapple is the common name for an edible tropical plant and also its fruit. It is native to the southern part of Brazil, and Paraguay. Pineapple is eaten fresh or canned and is available as a juice or in juice combinations. It is used in desserts, salads, as a complement to meat dishes and in...
, the 10 cent two
bonefishThe bonefish is the type species of the Albulidae, or bonefishes. It is amphidromous, living in inshore tropical waters, moving onto shallow tidal flats to feed with the incoming tide, and retreating to deeper water as the tide ebbs. Juvenile bonefish may be observed in large shoals of like-sized...
, the 15 cent a
hibiscusHibiscus is a genus of plants with member species often noted for their showy flowers and commonly known as hibiscus or less widely as rosemallow or flor de Jamaica. This large genus includes about 200–220 species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae native to warm, temperate,...
, and the 25 cent a native
sloopA sloop is a sailboat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter. A sloop's fore-triangle is smaller than a cutter's, and unlike a cutter, a sloop usually bends only one headsail, though this distinction is not definitive; some sloops such as the...
.
Banknotes
In 1966, the government introduced notes in denominations of ½, 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars. The Bahamas Monetary Authority took over the issuance of paper money in 1968, issuing the same denominations. In 1974, the Central Bank of the Bahamas took over note production. Its first issue of notes did not include the ½ and 3 dollar denominations but these were reintroduced in 1984.
The dollar has undergone several revisions in the last twenty years, one of the more notable being an extremely colourful redesign in celebration of the quincentennial of the landing of
Christopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus was a navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere...
on a Bahamian island he named
San SalvadorSan Salvador Island, also known as Watling Island, is an island and district of the Bahamas. Until 1986, when the National Geographic Society suggested Samana Cay, it was widely believed that during his first expedition to the New World, San Salvador Island was the first land sighted and visited by...
.
All banknotes have been undergoing design changes to foil
forgeryForgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents , with the intent to deceive. The similar crime of fraud is the crime of deceiving another, including through the use of objects obtained through forgery...
in recent years, although the notes implemented more stringent security long before the U.S.'s recent redesign of their notes. Note: All banknotes are the same physical size, like the U.S. dollar but unlike the
euroThe euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
. The latest counterfeit-proof formula is the "Counterfeit Resistant Integrated Security Product", or CRISP. The new $10 banknote was released on August 5, 2005, while the $20 banknote was released on September 6, 2006.
http://www.centralbankbahamas.com/public/PR%20Crisp%2020.pdf In
October 2005-Portal:Current events:...
, someone counterfeited one of the new CRISP $10 bills, serial number A161315. Bahamian authorities warned merchants to look for banknotes that lacked the distinctive watermark.
http://www.centralbankbahamas.com/public/PR-Counterfeit%20Article.pdf
Until a few years ago all notes displayed a portrait of
Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
(Head of State) but notes began to display portraits of prominent Bahamian politicians who have died. This policy is now being reversed, with the return of the Queen's portrait to the $10 note. The $½ shows an older Queen Elizabeth II and the back shows a picture of Sister Sarah in the Nassau Straw Market; the $1 shows Sir Lynden Pindling and on the back the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band; the $3 has a young Queen Elizabeth II and on the back shows a Family Island Regatta with native sloops; the $5 – Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield and the back shows a
JunkanooJunkanoo is a street parade with music, which occurs in many towns across The Bahamas every Boxing Day , New Year's Day and, more recently, in the summer on the island of Grand Bahama...
group 'rushing' in the Junkanoo parade; the $10 – an older Queen Elizabeth II (replacing Sir Stafford Sands) and the back shows the
Hope TownHope Town is one of the districts of the Bahamas, on the Abaco islands as well as a small village on Elbow Cay, located in Abaco. Golf carts are the main source of transportation, and most of the supplies for the area are brought in by barge each week. In Hope Town, neither cars nor golf carts are...
Lighthouse and settlement in Abaco, the $20 – Sir Milo Butler; the $50 – Sir Roland Symonette; the $100 – an older Queen Elizabeth II and the back shows a jumping
blue marlinBlue marlin may refer to:* Atlantic blue marlin, Makaira nigricans.* Indo-Pacific blue marlin, Makaira mazara, whether or not it is a separate species from Makaira nigricans is currently debated.* MV Blue Marlin, a heavy transport ship....
, the national fish of The Bahamas.
External links