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10 unusual facts about East Caribbean dollar


East Caribbean dollar

In 1822, the British government coined 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16 fractional 'Anchor dollars' for use in Mauritius and the British West Indies (but not Jamaica).

Queen Anne's proclamation of 1704 introduced the gold standard to the British West Indies, putting the West Indies about two hundred years ahead of the East Indies in this respect.

It was one of the many experimental political and economic ventures tested by the British government to form a uniform system within their British West Indies territories.

The British Virgin Islands were always problematic for currency purposes due to their proximity to the Danish West Indies which became the US Virgin Islands in 1917.

For a wider outline of the history of currency in the region see Currencies of the British West Indies.

In the years immediately following 1873, there was a fear that the British West Indies might return to a silver standard.

In the years following the 1838 order-in-council, the British West Indies territories began to enact local legislation for the purposes of assimilating their monies of account with the British pound sterling.

A few years later copper fractional dollars were coined for Mauritius, Sierra Leone, and the British West Indies.

In 1949, the British government formalized the dollar system of accounts in British Guiana and the Eastern Caribbean territories by introducing the British West Indies dollar (BWI$) at the already existing conversion rate of $4.80 per pound sterling (or $1 = 4 shillings 2 pence).

Molwyn Joseph

Within Parliament, Joseph campaigned for the Business Licensing Bill, a statute which aimed to impose licensing fees, ranging from 40 to 20,000 East Caribbean dollars, on those seeking to start businesses in certain fields.


Solomon Islands dollar

Examples of dollars that are directly related to the original Spanish dollar unit are the US dollar, the Canadian dollar, the Newfoundland dollar, the East Caribbean dollar, the Belize dollar, the Guyanese dollar, the Bermuda dollar, the Bahamian dollar, the Trinidad and Tobago dollar, the Barbados dollar, the Hong Kong dollar, the Straits dollar, the Malayan dollar, the Singapore dollar, and the Brunei dollar.